Two Class Actions Against 34 Multinational Companies Claim Damages for Apartheid Support

Two class action suits were brought on behalf of tens of thousands of victims of apartheid against 34 multinational companies and banks in the U.S. District Court for the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York under the Alien Tort Claims Act claim damages for support and financing of apartheid in South Africa. The controversial suit accuses the defendant companies of “aiding and abetting” apartheid. One class action seeks damages of more than $100 billion and is led by a legal team headed by Ed Fagan, a U.S. lawyer who participated in the suit that resulted in a & 1.25 billion settlement from Swiss banks for the families of the Holocaut victims, whose savings had never been conveyed to the heirs. Mr. Fagan also helped obtain a settlement of $ 5.2 billion from German industry and the German Government for the Third Reich slave laborers. Because many of the companies are defendants in both cases and many of the issues are similar, the U.S. Multi district Litigation Panel is expected to decide soon whether so consolidate the two cases. According to the suit defendants should pay damages for personal injuries inflicted on the plaintiffs through diverse means during the apartheid era, ranging from torture to death squad attacks, because the defendant’s actions caused the injuries by perpetuating the apartheid system. The suit seeks a “disgorgement,” a remedy a court can order the defendants to repay to the plaintiffs all the profits they made resulting from their business dealings with South Africa’s apartheid regime. Following the release of the TRC final report last year, the South African Government agreed to pay R30,0000 ($3,900) each to about 22,000 victims of apartheid, a smaller amount than many victims expected.