Alien tort claims ACT

• Pages: 34-35

Page 34

Plaintiffs are (1) a class of Vietnamese nationals suing on behalf of themselves and all others similarly situated for injuries allegedly sustained by their exposure to Agent Orange (AO) and other herbicides used by the U.S. military during the Vietnam War. Plaintiff s also include (2) the Vietnamese Association for Victims of Agent Orange (VAVAO), a Vietnamese non-profi t, nongovernmental organization representing persons who were exposed to AO. Its purpose is to protect the interests of its members and to raise funds for their care and treatment. Defendants are U.S. companies who manufactured the chemicals and supplied them to the U.S. government.

U.S. forces were using AO in the Vietnam War in order to clear off large swaths of jungle and dense forest, so as to protect U.S. troops against ambushes. The military applied the herbicides by an aerial spray; the military claims that they tried hard to spray only military targets in places remote from civilian centers.

During the conflict, the U.S. government thought that the pace of AO production was not enough to meet its projected needs. Acting under the Defense Production Act of 1950 (DPA), it decided to compel Defendants to prioritize AO production. DPA § 101 authorized the President to "require that performance under contracts or orders . . . which he deems necessary or appropriate to promote the national defense shall take priority over performance under any other contract or order, and, for the purpose of assuring such priority, to require acceptance and performance of such contracts or orders in preference to other contracts or orders." He in eff ect commandeered all of the corporate Defendants' capacity to produce AO.

In 1966, a government study uncovered evidence that exposure to AO was causing health problems and the U.S. stopped using AO in 1970. After the war, however, both American military personnel and Vietnamese citizens began to report health defects, allegedly caused by exposure to AO and other herbicides. Plaintiff s' allege, such injuries included, inter alia, miscarriages, birth defects, breast cancer, ovarian tumors, lung cancer, Hodgkin's Disease, and prostate tumors.

The Plaintiff s' complaint charged (1) that the U.S. use of AO violated international, domestic, and Vietnamese law and (2) that Defendants either aided and abetted these violations or committed independent violations by fulfi lling the military's demand for herbicides. With respect to their...