Indian communities affected by adverse impacts of coal-fired power plant ask US court to reconsider doctrine of “absolute immunity” from lawsuits of Intl. Finance Corp.
"Judge Declares World Bank Immunity Cases “Wrongly Decided”; Indian Plaintiffs Ask D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals to Review “Absolute Immunity” Doctrine", 25 Jul 2017
After a federal judge declared that cases giving the World Bank Group “absolute immunity” from lawsuits were “wrongly decided,” communities represented by EarthRights International (ERI) have filed a petition asking the full D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals to revisit its immunity doctrine. In June, a three-judge panel of the D.C. Circuit ruled that the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private-lending arm of the World Bank Group, could not be sued for its role in the controversial Tata Mundra coal-fired power plant that has devastated fishing and farming communities in Gujarat, India…
Judge Nina Pillard, however, wrote a separate opinion that criticized those decisions as “wrongly decided” and suggested the full court should reconsider them…
Following Judge Pillard’s suggestion, the plaintiffs’ petition requests rehearing “en banc” – in front of all active D.C. Circuit judges. The plaintiffs are optimistic that the full D.C. Circuit will reconsider the case…
“This decision tells the world that the doors of justice are not open to the poor and marginalized when it comes to powerful institutions like IFC,” added Gajendrasinh Jadeja, the head of Navinal Panchayat, a local village involved in the case. “But no one should be above the law.”…