Okpabi v Shell and Four Nigerian Farmers v Shell: Parent Company Liability Back in Court

Abstract

Foreign direct liability litigation against businesses is still a growing trend in European domestic courts, going on for over two decades. With absent effective remedies in host states, victims of human rights abuses committed by transnational corporations' subsidiaries try to get access to remedy in the courts of the home states of the parent companies. A crucial factor for whether such cases can succeed, is the viability of the claims against the parent companies allegedly involved in the abuses. The principal legal route that victims have used to hold parent companies liable is through common law negligence claims.