WASHINGTON (CN) — Dismissing a federal class action filed by former child cobalt miners injured in mining accidents, a D.C. Circuit panel ruled in favor of Apple, Dell, Tesla and Microsoft on Tuesday by finding the tech giants were not liable for child labor used in mines in the Republic of Congo.
U.S. Circuit Judge Neomi Rao, a Donald Trump appointee, wrote in the 24-page opinion that the companies’ consumption of cobalt, used for lithium-ion batteries in electronics and electric vehicles, did not amount to a violation of the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act.
The 2008-era law makes it unlawful to participate in a venture that engages in forced labor, which the class argued was the kind of labor child labor they endured since they were forced into the dangerous mining conditions due to extreme poverty.
But the appeals court, rounded out by Chief U.S. Circuit Judge Sri Srinivasan and U.S. Circuit Judge Cornelia Pillard, both Barack Obama appointees, found the argument lacking.
“The plaintiffs suggest that the possibility of commercial pressure is enough to establish a ‘venture’ between a buyer and seller. They contend that, because the tech companies constitute the ‘essential market’ for cobalt, the companies could force changes in mining practices,” Rao wrote for the panel. “The only control apparent in the complaint, however, is the tech companies’ right to stop purchasing cobalt. Even if we assume that allegations of market power could show participation in a venture, the plaintiffs’ allegations do not suffice to support this theory.”
The panel also took issue with how the class failed to specify the relative purchasing power of each tech company through the global supply chain in the complaint.
“Without more specific allegations, the question is whether the tech companies’ purchasing an unspecified amount of cobalt from a supply chain originating in DRC mines plausibly demonstrates ‘participation in a venture’ with anyone engaged in forced labor in that supply chain,” Rao wrote. “We hold that it does not.”
The panel upheld dismissal by the D.C. federal court for failure to state a claim. However, while the federal court had also dismissed the case for lack of jurisdiction, the appeals court found that the plaintiffs had standing to pursue their claims.
Filed by attorney Terrence Collingsworth at the Washington-D.C.-based firm International Rights Advocates, the 79-page complaint filed in 2019 told the stories of the former child miners and detailed how extreme poverty — sometimes caused by parental deaths, injuries, or abandonment — forced them into working in the country’s mines where almost two-thirds of the world’s supply of cobalt originates.
One 15-year-old plaintiff identified as “John Doe 1” broke his spine when he fell into a tunnel while carrying a 66-pound bag of cobalt down a mountain, the class said. He became paralyzed from the chest down.
Another 16-year-old miner, “James Doe 2,” was buried alive in 2019 when a cobalt mining tunnel collapsed on him during work. He started working in the mines at 11 years old because his father could not work due to an injury.
Plaintiff "John Doe 3," who began working in the mines at 14 to support his mother and six sisters, earned as little as $9 a week for his work transporting hundreds of pounds of cobalt. He had his leg amputated after he was hit by a cobalt truck while transporting the material on a motorbike.
Other plaintiffs had been killed or seriously injured in mining collapses, the class said, noting that some now live with surgically implanted metal rods supporting their broken bones.
Orrick attorney Eric Shumsky represented Apple, Alphabet, Microsoft, Dell and Tesla in the appeal.
Neither Shumsky nor Collingsworth immediately returned requests for comment on the suit’s dismissal Tuesday.
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