Sat Mar 23, 2024 11:33 pm by globalturbo
Pfizer, AstraZeneca and others ask US Supreme Court to bar Iraq terrorism funding claims
Posted on July 7, 2023
By Mike Scarcella
July 5 (Reuters) – More than 20 U.S. and European pharmaceutical and medical-device makers [url=https://fingfx.thomsonreuters.com/gfx/legaldocs/gkplwrdjqvb/Atchley Petition for Certiorari 2023.pdf]have asked[/url] the U.S. Supreme Court to bar claims that the companies helped to fund terrorism that killed or injured hundreds of American service members during the war in Iraq.
The companies, part of five corporate families — AstraZeneca (AZN.L), Pfizer (PFE.N), GE Healthcare USA, Johnson & Johnson (JNJ.N) and F. Hoffmann-La Roche — are challenging a ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.
The petition at the high court was added on Wednesday to the court’s public docket.
The D.C. Circuit order from last year at the center of the case reinstated a lawsuit alleging that 21 U.S. and European medical equipment and pharmaceutical companies made corrupt payments to the Hezbollah-sponsored militia group Jaysh al-Mahdi in order to obtain medical-supply contracts. The plaintiffs’ complaint said Jaysh al-Mahdi controlled Iraq’s health ministry.
Attorneys for the companies contend in their petition that a Supreme Court ruling in May shielding Twitter from liability under the federal Anti-Terrorism Act should bar the service members’ allegations.
That ruling said aiding-and-abetting liability under the Anti-Terrorism Act, the same law at issue in the Iraq terror case, requires that a defendant “consciously and culpably” participated in a terror act to help it succeed.
The pharmaceutical and device companies asked the justices to vacate the D.C. Circuit’s ruling and to send the case back to the lower courts for further analysis. The service members sued under the Anti-Terrorism Act.
An attorney for the plaintiffs at law firm Kellogg, Hansen, Todd, Figel & Frederick did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment. The firm represents hundreds of victims of Americans who said they were harmed in Iraq between 2005 and 2011.
The plaintiffs, according to their 588-page complaint, argue they “were attacked by a terrorist group funded in part by defendants’ corrupt sales practices.”
In a joint statement, the companies said they “vigorously dispute the plaintiffs’ allegations in this case and are not responsible in any way for the tragic events that were caused and carried out by Iraqi militia groups.”
The case is AstraZeneca UK Ltd et al v Joshua Atchley, U.S. Supreme Court, No. 23-9.
[…]
Via https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/pfizer-astrazeneca-others-ask-us-supreme-court-bar-iraq-terrorism-funding-claims-2023-07-05/
THANKS TO: https://stuartbramhall.wordpress.com/2023/07/07/pfizer-astrazeneca-and-others-ask-us-supreme-court-to-bar-iraq-terrorism-funding-claims/
Posted on July 7, 2023
The Pfizer logo is seen at their world headquarters in New York April 28, 2014. REUTERS/Andrew Kelly (UNITED STATES – Tags: BUSINESS LOGO HEALTH)
By Mike Scarcella
July 5 (Reuters) – More than 20 U.S. and European pharmaceutical and medical-device makers [url=https://fingfx.thomsonreuters.com/gfx/legaldocs/gkplwrdjqvb/Atchley Petition for Certiorari 2023.pdf]have asked[/url] the U.S. Supreme Court to bar claims that the companies helped to fund terrorism that killed or injured hundreds of American service members during the war in Iraq.
The companies, part of five corporate families — AstraZeneca (AZN.L), Pfizer (PFE.N), GE Healthcare USA, Johnson & Johnson (JNJ.N) and F. Hoffmann-La Roche — are challenging a ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.
The petition at the high court was added on Wednesday to the court’s public docket.
The D.C. Circuit order from last year at the center of the case reinstated a lawsuit alleging that 21 U.S. and European medical equipment and pharmaceutical companies made corrupt payments to the Hezbollah-sponsored militia group Jaysh al-Mahdi in order to obtain medical-supply contracts. The plaintiffs’ complaint said Jaysh al-Mahdi controlled Iraq’s health ministry.
Attorneys for the companies contend in their petition that a Supreme Court ruling in May shielding Twitter from liability under the federal Anti-Terrorism Act should bar the service members’ allegations.
That ruling said aiding-and-abetting liability under the Anti-Terrorism Act, the same law at issue in the Iraq terror case, requires that a defendant “consciously and culpably” participated in a terror act to help it succeed.
The pharmaceutical and device companies asked the justices to vacate the D.C. Circuit’s ruling and to send the case back to the lower courts for further analysis. The service members sued under the Anti-Terrorism Act.
An attorney for the plaintiffs at law firm Kellogg, Hansen, Todd, Figel & Frederick did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment. The firm represents hundreds of victims of Americans who said they were harmed in Iraq between 2005 and 2011.
The plaintiffs, according to their 588-page complaint, argue they “were attacked by a terrorist group funded in part by defendants’ corrupt sales practices.”
In a joint statement, the companies said they “vigorously dispute the plaintiffs’ allegations in this case and are not responsible in any way for the tragic events that were caused and carried out by Iraqi militia groups.”
The case is AstraZeneca UK Ltd et al v Joshua Atchley, U.S. Supreme Court, No. 23-9.
[…]
Via https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/pfizer-astrazeneca-others-ask-us-supreme-court-bar-iraq-terrorism-funding-claims-2023-07-05/
THANKS TO: https://stuartbramhall.wordpress.com/2023/07/07/pfizer-astrazeneca-and-others-ask-us-supreme-court-to-bar-iraq-terrorism-funding-claims/
