After a federal appellate court all but instructed her to dismiss the case, Southern District Judge Shira Scheindlin (See Profile) has kept alive a lawsuit accusing Ford, IBM and other companies of abusing human rights by doing business with South Africa’s apartheid regime.
Defying the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, Scheindlin on Thursday said that the companies still might face liability under the Alien Tort Statute for providing vehicles, computers and other materials that helped the South African government violate international law through torture and extrajudicial killings.
