U.S. Supreme Court rejects human rights suit against Occidental
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to revive a human rights lawsuit against Occidental Petroleum Corp and a security contractor that had accused them of complicity in a deadly 1998 bombing by Colombia's military of a village in the South American country. The court left intact a November 2014 ruling by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals stating that victims' families could not pursue claims against Occidental and Florida-based AirScan Inc under two U.S. human rights laws…Occidental and AirScan were accused of providing the Colombian military with financial and logistical support. Both denied wrongdoing, and Houston-based Occidental has said it did not provide lethal aid. The lower court ruling relied in part on a 2013 Supreme Court decision in which the justices ruled unanimously to make it harder for plaintiffs to sue corporations in U.S. courts for alleged abuses occurring overseas…