WASHINGTON (Reuters) — The Supreme Court declined on Monday to hear an appeal by Exxon Mobil seeking to dismiss a lawsuit by 11 Indonesian villagers.
The Indonesians claim the company’s security forces committed human
rights abuses at a natural gas processing plant in Aceh Province.
The justices, following the recommendation of the federal government, turned down the company’s appeal without comment.
The
lawsuit was filed in 2001 in federal court in Washington. In 2007 a
federal appeals court upheld a district court judge’s refusal to
dismiss the entire lawsuit. It rejected the company’s arguments that
the case raised political questions outside the jurisdiction of United
States courts.
Exxon’s appeal to the Supreme Court involved
whether the district court’s denial could be immediately appealed. The
justices’ rejection of the appeal allows the lawsuit to go forward.
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