Hershey, Nestle & Other Chocolate Giants Beat Appeal In Child Slavery Lawsuit

A federal appeals court has thrown out a lawsuit brought by eight Malian citizens who accused Hershey, Nestlé, and five other major cocoa companies of profiting from child labor on cocoa farms in Ivory Coast.

In a unanimous 3-0 decision, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ruled the plaintiffs couldn’t establish a clear connection between their forced labor and the companies’ supply chains. The court found that while the companies purchase around 70% of Ivorian cocoa, the lawsuit didn’t plausibly show that the cocoa harvested by the plaintiffs ended up in those companies' products.

"Is there a 'possibility' that at least some of the importers sourced cocoa from those farms? Yes,” wrote Circuit Judge Justin Walker. “But is it 'plausible'? Not on this complaint."

The plaintiffs said they were lured from Mali to Ivory Coast with false promises of paid work, then forced to labor under brutal conditions, including threats of starvation. They filed the suit under the federal Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act, which allows victims of human trafficking and forced labor to sue their exploiters.

Defendants included some of the biggest names in the industry: Hershey, Nestlé, Mars, Mondelez, Cargill, Barry Callebaut, and Olam International. A lower court had already ruled in favor of the companies in June 2022.

Terry Collingsworth, an attorney for the plaintiffs, criticized the decision, arguing it rewards corporate opacity. “The court rewarded the chocolate multinational defendants ... for concealing their cocoa supply chains, such that former child slaves are unable to link a specific company to the Cote d'Ivoire farms where they were enslaved,” he said. Collingsworth added that his clients were “extremely disappointed” and are weighing their next steps.

Link: Reuters