Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/20pdf/19-416_i4dj.pdf
Page Number: 4

2 

NESTLE USA, INC. v. DOE 

Opinion of the Court 

overseas, the Ninth Circuit held that respondents could sue 
in  federal court because  the defendant corporations alleg-
edly  made  “major  operational  decisions”  in  the  United 
States.  The Ninth Circuit erred by allowing this suit to pro-
ceed. 

I 

According  to  the  operative  complaint,  Ivory  Coast—a 
West-African  country  also  known  as  Côte  d’Ivoire—is  re-
sponsible for  the  majority  of the global cocoa supply.  Re-
spondents  are  six  individuals  from  Mali  who  allege  that 
they were trafficked into Ivory Coast as child slaves to pro-
duce cocoa. 

Petitioners Nestlé USA and Cargill are U. S.-based com-
panies that purchase, process, and sell cocoa.  They did not 
own or operate farms in Ivory Coast.  But they did buy cocoa 
from farms located there.  They also provided those farms 
with  technical  and  financial  resources—such  as  training, 
fertilizer,  tools,  and  cash—in  exchange  for  the  exclusive 
right to purchase cocoa.  Respondents allege that they were 
enslaved on some of those farms. 

Respondents sued Nestlé, Cargill, and other entities, con-
tending that this arrangement aided and abetted child slav-
ery.  Respondents  argue  that  petitioners  “knew  or  should 
have known” that the farms were exploiting enslaved chil-
dren yet continued to provide those farms with resources. 
App.  319.  They further  contend that petitioners  had  eco-
nomic  leverage  over  the  farms  but  failed  to  exercise  it  to 
eliminate child slavery.  And although the resource distri-
bution  and  respondents’  injuries  occurred  outside  the 
United  States,  respondents  contend  that  they  can  sue  in 
federal court because petitioners allegedly made all major 
operational decisions from within the United States. 

The District Court dismissed this suit after we held that 
the ATS does not apply extraterritorially.  Kiobel v. Royal 
Dutch Petroleum Co., 569 U. S. 108 (2013).  It reasoned that