Banana company Chiquita Brands International has been found liable for financing a far-right Colombian paramilitary group and ordered to pay $38.3 million in damages to the families of eight men killed by the group during the country’s civil war, a federal jury in Florida decided.
The landmark ruling Monday comes after 17 years of legal proceedings, marking the first time the corporate giant has been found liable for similar lawsuits for those victimized by the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC), the plaintiffs’ attorneys said.
In 2007, Chiquita pleaded guilty to one count of engaging in transactions with a “specially designated global terrorist” and was ordered to pay a $25 million fine, the Justice Department said at the time. The company was accused of making illegal payments to the AUC, a paramilitary group known for mass killing, kidnapping civilians and mutilating their corpses.
The case, originally filed by the nonprofit EarthRights International in 2007, was followed by several other cases in 2008, the nonprofit said. A team of law firms across the United States has been representing more than 5,000 Colombians in the proceeding. Trials for additional victims will follow in July, according to attorneys.
Monday’s verdict, which came after a six-week trial and two days of deliberations, also marks the first time a major U.S. corporation was found liable for its role in human rights abuses abroad, attorneys said. The ruling could affect similar litigations that…
