Ninth Circuit bars suit against Caterpillar for selling bulldozers to the Israeli Defense Forces.

• Author: Crook, John R.

In September 2007, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit affirmed a lower court's dismissal of a suit against the Caterpillar Corporation on political question grounds. The plaintiffs alleged that Caterpillar was liable for aiding and abetting violations of international law by the Israeli Defense Forces, because Caterpillar built and sold armored bulldozers that were used to destroy Palestinians' homes. (1) The court's opinion set out the background:

Plaintiffs ... filed this action after their family members were killed or injured when the Israeli Defense Forces ("IDF") demolished homes in the Palestinian Territories using bulldozers manufactured by Caterpillar, Inc., a United States corporation. The IDF ordered the bulldozers directly from Caterpillar, but the United States government paid for them. The district court dismissed the action ... because, inter alia, the political question doctrine precludes decision by an Article III court. ... Caterpillar is the world's leading manufacturer of heavy construction and mining equipment. Among its customers is the IDF, which since 1967 has utilized Caterpillar bulldozers to demolish homes in the Palestinian Territories. According to plaintiffs' complaint, Caterpillar sold the bulldozers to the IDF despite its actual and constructive notice that the IDF would use them to further its home destruction policy in the Palestinian Territories; a policy plaintiffs contend violates international law. Seventeen members of plaintiffs' families--sixteen Palestinians and one American--were killed or injured in the course of the demolitions. (2) The plaintiffs alleged numerous violations of U.S. law that were said to follow from this conduct. Jurisdiction over the claims of the Palestinian plaintiffs was asserted on the basis of the Alien Tort Claims Act (3) The relatives of Rachel Corrie--who are U.S. citizens--alleged general federal question jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. [section] 1331.

The court of appeals affirmed the lower court's dismissal of the claim. There was uncontested evidence that the United States had paid for the bulldozers as part of its assistance to Israel under the U.S. Foreign Military Financing Program. (4) Given this connection, the court found that the case met several of the criteria indicating the presence of a political question, as set out by the U.S. Supreme Court in Baker v. Carr. (5)

[6] "The conduct of the foreign relations of our government is committed by the...