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Pacific Currents: Mining firm is sued for 'crimes' on Bougainville
Monday, October 2, 2000
By LARRY JOHNSON
An obscure 18th-century U.S. law designed to fight pirates is being used by Seattle lawyers against one of the world's largest mining companies.
Steve Berman and Paul Luvera have been called in to aid the people of Bougainville, a small island in the South Pacific in their struggle with the company, Rio Tinto.
On Sept. 6, residents of Bougainville Island in Papau New Guinea filed a class-action lawsuit in San Francisco against British mining giant Rio Tinto; the lawsuit alleged that the company, together with the PNG government, operated an enormous copper mine on the island from 1972 to 1988, "which resulted in international environmental violations and crimes against humanity stemming from a military blockade motivated by civilian resistance to the mine."
Under the Alien Tort Claims Act, foreign nationals can bring suit in the United States against companies that violate international law and requires any company that operates in the United States to be accountable for its operations worldwide.
Rio Tinto is the parent company of Los Angeles-based U.S. Borax Inc.
"Rio Tinto showed total disregard for the environment," said Berman, lead attorney in the suit; Berman is well-known for such high-profile cases as the Liggett Tobacco settlement, which resulted in the release of thousands of previously privileged tobacco industry documents, and the Washington Public Power Supply litigation that brought a settlement of about $850 million.
"The complaint alleges that Rio Tinto used their huge economic influence to effectively turn the PNG army into their private police force in the attempt to break the will and spirit of the Bougainvilleans," who opposed the mine, Berman said in a telephone interview Sept. 20.
"They didn't, and the villagers want justice. . . ."
According to the suit, after militants' actions forced the mine to close in 1988, PNG coordinated with Rio Tinto to bring in troops to Bougainville, allegedly providing helicopters for transport.
It contends as well that by 1990, the PNG army had imposed a military blockade that cut off medical supplies, resulting in the deaths of 10,000 Bougainvilleans, including 2,000 children, between 1990 and 1997.
The suit also alleges that about 15,000 civilians died as a result of armed acts by PNG troops. PNG military actions included aerial bombings, burning of houses and villages and rapes and killings, according to the suit.
"By exerting financial pressure, Rio Tinto played an active role in the demise of Bougainville's environment and people, as surely as if they'd pulled the trigger themselves," said Luvera, co-counsel in the class-action suit, in a news statement.
Luvera, a partner at Luvera, Bamett, Brindley, Beninger and Cunningham in Seattle, was co-counsel in Washington state's trial against the tobacco industry.
Despite the filing Sept. 6, Rio Tinto has not yet been served offi
cial notification of the class-action suit.
Berman said it could take as long as 30 days before the company receives notification.
However, Rio Tinto's Web site addressed the human rights issue in its "1999 Social and Environmental Report."
The report said, "A human rights primer is being prepared to give practical guidance to operations on how to implement our human rights policy.
The process for developing the primer is designed to increase debate and improve awareness with in the Group on human rights is sues."
The class-action suit:
www.hagens-berman.com
Rio Tinto: www.riotinto.com
P-I Foreign Desk Editor Larry Johnson can be reached at 206-448-8035 or ljohns@seattlep-i.com
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER FOREIGN DESK EDITOR
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