In re Chiquita Brands International Inc. Litigation
In re Chiquita Brands International Inc. Litigation (S.D. Fla.): Cohen Milstein represents hundreds of Colombian citizens who allege that they or their family members were victims of torture or extrajudicial killing committed by the Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia (AUC), a paramilitary group designated by the United States government as a “Foreign Terrorist Organization,” during armed conflict in Colombia in the 1990s and early 2000s. Plaintiffs allege that the deaths of their relatives were a direct and foreseeable result of Chiquita’s financial support of the AUC. The case is proceeding under Colombian law against Chiquita and under the U.S. Torture Victim Protection Act against individual Chiquita executives and board members. On June 10, 2024, after a six-week bellwether jury trial, the jury found Chiquita responsible for the wrongful deaths of eight men who were murdered by AUC and awarded the surviving family members $38.3 million in damages for their deaths.
Kasim Kurd, et al. v. The Republic of Turkey
Kurd v. The Republic of Turkey (D.D.C.): Cohen Milstein represents fifteen people, including a seven-year-old girl with her father, a mother pushing a four-year-old in a stroller, students, and local small business owners, who had gathered at Sheridan Circle in Washington, D.C., to peacefully protest the Erdogan regime’s treatment of its Kurdish community. They were brutally attacked by President Erdogan’s security detail, who pushed past a line of law enforcement officers to kick, stomp and bludgeon the demonstrators. The attack was captured on video, resulted in criminal indictments, and was condemned by the United States Congress. The Republic of Turkey claimed it was immune from suit, but the district court disagreed. Agnieszka Fryszman successfully argued the case at the Court of Appeals, obtaining a unanimous opinion holding that Turkey was not entitled to sovereign immunity for the attack.
Ratha, et al v. Phatthana Seafood Co
Ratha, et al v. Phatthana Seafood Co. (C.D. Cal.): Cohen Milstein is representing seven Cambodian plaintiffs in a cross-border human rights lawsuit involving human trafficking, forced labor, involuntary servitude, and peonage by factories in Thailand that produce shrimp and seafood for export to the United States.