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March 27, 2007
Leftist Lawyer Dan Kovalik Uses Archaic Statute to Harass US Companies
Posted by Dave Blount at March 27, 2007 9:38 AM
Left-wing lawyer Dan Kovalik is using an 18th century statute meant to target pirates to sue American companies for the chaos taking place in backwards parts of the world.
The Alien Tort Claims Act of 1789 wasn't used for over 200 years until moonbats discovered they could exploit it to shake down US companies operating overseas. It allows foreign residents to file suits in American courts for injuries suffered "in violation of the law of nations or a treaty of the United States."
Kovalik is employing it to punish the Drummond mining company for the violence that is endemic in Colombia. To its credit, Drummond is standing firm and will not offer a settlement, as it asserts it has had nothing whatsoever to do with the violence. Regardless of the company's innocence, this takes some backbone, because a trial will doubtlessly generate bad publicity. However, the alternative is to pay off moonbats who will only return with more lawsuits when they've found a way to make easy money by putting the screws to the corporations they so hate.
John Murphy, vice president for international affairs at the US Chamber of Commerce, had this to say about Kovalik's activities:
The framers of the Constitution would shudder at the thought that the Alien Tort Claims Act is being used to hit up U.S. companies for events that have happened in foreign countries that are completely outside their ability to influence. […] This is the most creative kind of lawyering that we've ever seen.
Douglas Branson, a law professor at the University of Pittsburgh, characterizes the Act as the exclusive province of "hippies who wear bandannas and Levis." That accurately describes Kovalik, who plays his guitar in Pittsburgh's Market Square and considers himself to be harassing employers like Drummond "on behalf of working people."
On a tip from General Jack D. Ripper.
