Daimler Chrysler
Case Name: BARBARA BAUMAN et al. v. DAIMLER CHRYSLER CORPORATION
Plaintiffs: The plaintiffs are families of workers “disappeared” under the Argentine military government.
Summary: There is no dispute that Daimler Chrysler’s (DC) predecessor company. Mercedes Benz was operating in Argentina during the “Dirty War” and provided names of leftist trade union leaders to the National Police for “disappearance.” With the recent change of government and the opening of long-sealed files, the families of many of these disappeared workers were able to learn the truth about DC’s role. They filed suit in 2005 in federal court in San Francisco alleging extrajudicial killing under the ATCA. Recent rulings are clear that the statute of limitations for extrajudicial killing is tolled until surviving family members know the actual facts. The case has been mired in a dispute over personal jurisdiction, with DC arguing they can’t be sued in the U.S. The trial judge recently dismissed DC on this basis, and the Plaintiffs filed a notice of appeal in April 2007.
Status: Currently on appeal.
Cooperating Attorneys:
Mark A. Chavez
Kim E. Card
Chavez and Gertler LLP
Daniel M. Kovalik
— Chris Saeger, "Strengthening Rule of Law Through Aid for Human Rights Litigation in National Courts: A Case Study of Oil Multinational Corporations Complicit in Human Rights Violations in Sudan and Nigeria (December 2007)
— Terry Collingsworth, "Using the Alien Tort Claims Act to Introduce the Rule of Law to the Global Economy (2005)
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