Jury finds Drummond Coal not liable in murder of Colombian unionists

The plaintiffs in the Federal civil suit, the United Steel Workers (USW) and the International Labor Rights Fund (ILRF)—representing the families of the slain unionists—claimed that Drummond had paid members of the paramilitary group Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia (AUC) for the murders. The plaintiffs filed the suit in 2002 under the Alien Tort Claims Act (ATCA), a 1789 law that allows for tort claims actions by non-US citizens against wrongs committed by US citizens while in the plaintiff’s country.

The case took five years to reach the courtroom. Federal Judge Karon Bowdre, a 2001 Bush appointee, dismissed all charges—most importantly those of wrongful death—except the single charge of “war crimes.” According to the statute, the plaintiffs were therefore obliged to prove that Drummond had not only ordered the murders, but had done so as a partisan in the ongoing civil war between the government—which has connections with the AUC—and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Columbia (FARC).