San Diego’s Bumble Bee Foods asks judge to toss out Indonesians’ forced labor suit

The former Showley Bros Candy Factory on th Avenue now Bumble Bee s headquarters File photo by Chris Jennewein Times of San Diego Human-rights groups were shocked in March by lawsuit claims of horrific worker restoration on boats that supplied San Diego-based Bumble Bee Foods Bumble Bee motion to dismiss federal lawsuit by four Indonesian fishermen PDF The canned-tuna giant target of the suit was bummed as well Bumble Bee unequivocally condemns forced labor and takes charges of forced labor in its supply chain seriously company lawyers say in a court filing Monday Indeed when Bumble Bee learned of the accusations in the complaint it promptly instructed its suppliers to cease purchasing from the vessels at issue But the lawsuit by four Indonesian men is going after the wrong party says the -page filing And if Bumble Bee were identified liable it reported so might every other company that sources product from foreign entities That limitless theory of liability would allow any manufacturer or retailer to be sued based on conduct by independent foreign actors anywhere in a global supply chain writes Vassi Iliadis an attorney for Bumble Bee So Bumble Bee s legal band is asking Judge Michael Anello in San Diego federal court to throw out the matter A hearing on that dismissal motion is set for Sept in downtown U S District Court West Broadway Agnieszka Fryszman partner at Cohen Milstein representing the Indonesians offered an initial view of the motion Bumble Bee does not contest the key issue in the episode that the men were casualties of forced labor We look forward to responding in court Fryszman reported Wednesday in a message to Times of San Diego Hearing the situation is an -year-old jurist nominated by President George W Bush in In Anello assumed senior status a form of semi-retirement View this post on Instagram A post shared by CBS Mornings cbsmornings He isn t averse to tossing major lawsuits In Anello dismissed a securities fraud matter brought by investors in SeaWorld Entertainment Inc who noted the company misled them about how the critical documentary Blackfish affected its theme parks financial per formance and attendance Anello noted the investors failed to show that SeaWorld personnel had deliberately made false state ments that Blackfish alone caused attendance declines and that SeaWorld leaders knew Blackfish had caused atten dance declines announced one account Four years later after an amended lawsuit was filed SeaWorld settled the episode by paying million Now it s the th Avenue company s turn to persuade the veteran judge Assertions that Bumble Bee was generally aware of an industry-wide issue do not mean that Bumble Bee had the ability to control the individual bad actors that harmed Plaintiffs or was in the best position to do so says the dismissal motion Among other things Bumble Bee lawyers say the suit fails to state a claim under the Trafficking Casualties Protection Reauthorization Act the federal law that seeks to combat human trafficking That law authorizes a forced-labor victim to bring a civil suit against the perpetrator or whoever knowingly benefits from participation in a venture which that person knew or should have known has engaged in an act in violation of this chapter the motion says Part of the law allows individuals to sue those who obtained their labor by force and those who directly assist them But Bumble bee disputes that the law imposes liability at any stage in a multi-tier supply chain Downstream purchases alone do not help liability under the TVPRA the company argues Plaintiffs do not plausibly allege that Bumble Bee knew or had reason to know of the violations that Plaintiffs allegedly suffered or that Bumble Bee participated in a venture with the entities or people that Plaintiffs claim abused them the vessel captains and Indonesian recruitment agencies the motion says Bumblee Bee calls the TVPRA claim impermissibly extraterritorial because it seeks to impose civil liability on Bumble Bee for injuries suffered overseas at the hands of foreign actors U S statutes are presumed not to apply to extraterritorial conduct and nothing in the TVPRA defeats that presumption Because Plaintiffs claim arises from events overseas it may not be pursued in a U S court Bumble Bee repeated that it strongly condemns forced labor and has enacted policies to promote responsible sourcing in its supply chain But progressing an effective long-term key would require the help of plenty of actors including governments its lawyers write The federal courts are the wrong forum for the forward-looking approach changes Plaintiffs seek against a single company And neither the TVPRA s civil remedy provision nor state negligence law is a proper conveyance for holding American companies that are the buyers of foreign goods liable for injuries allegedly inflicted abroad by foreign third-party suppliers on their foreign employees Bumble Bee acknowledges as would any responsible seafood company that it has more work to do in combating forced labor in the global supply chain But the Indonesians should instead have sued the agencies that recruited them to the boats their captains or even Bumble Bee s parent company FCF the motion says Bumble Bee says it s a wholly owned subsidiary of Bumble Bee Holding Co which is wholly owned by FCF Americas which is wholly owned by Besford Limited which is wholly owned by Skymax International Corp which is wholly owned by FCF Co LTD a Taiwanese seafood conglomerate Plaintiffs did not sue these agencies or the people or entities that operated the foreign vessels on which they worked Instead they sued Bumble Bee alleging violations of the TVPRA and California negligence law the motion says Plaintiffs do not allege that Bumble Bee knew about Plaintiffs alleged abuse by the vessel captains and crew Rather Plaintiffs assert that they were isolated far from land and so had little to no means of even reporting their conditions Lawyers for the Indonesians including ones based in San Diego and Washington have until July to answer the Bumblee Bee brief which cites more than legal cases as precedent