Chevron dodged a bullet yesterday, when a San Francisco court ruled that the company was not complicit in the murder and torture of Nigerian protesters in 1998. The protesters had occupied a Chevron oil platform, and Nigerian police shot into the crowd, killing many. Survivors of the incident argued that Chevron was partly responsible for initiating the police action, and sued under the Alien Tort Claims act, an 18th-century law that activists have resurrected to hold American companies responsible for alleged misdeeds overseas. But according to the Bay Guardian, the jury didn’t see it that way and gave Chevron a pass. The plaintiffs plan to appeal to the 9th Circuit.
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