The United States Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit in Atlanta, after reviewing Jane Doe, et al., versus Drummond Company Inc., Drummond Ltd., et al., in which the company and two of its executives had been accused of allegedly being involved in a conspiracy with paramilitary groups, dismissed the case after ruling it lacked merits. The lawsuit had originally been filed in 2009.<\/p>\n\n
The Court of Appeals upheld the lower court\u2019s factual findings that there is no evidence that Drummond Company Inc., Drummond Ltd or its executives were involved in the paying of the paramilitary group AUC. Additionally the Court ruled that there is no evidence that Drummond executives \u201cknew that noncombatants were being murdered along the rail lines,\u201d or that the \u201cparamilitary group AUC was allegedly being paid by Drummond.\u201d Also, the district court found that the \u201cPlaintiffs\u00b4 admissible evidence did not raise a genuine issue of material fact as to either of the individual defendants\u00b4 liability.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
Accordingly, the Court affirmed the summary judgment in favor of the executives. The Court ruled that the evidentiary record \u201cdemonstrated an absence of evidence in support of Plaintiffs\u00b4 case\u201d against the executives. Specifically, there was no evidence that either executive \u201chad any knowledge of an alleged corporate scheme to fund or otherwise support the AUC, much less that they had any part in such a scheme or control over those who allegedly did.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
The ruling further stated that \u201cPlaintiffs have failed to adduce any evidence creating a genuine issue of material fact\u201d as to the executives\u00b4 \u201cliability for any alleged corporate scheme resulting in the killings of noncombatants along Defendants\u00b4 mining operation and rail lines by the AUC\u2026.\u201d and \u201cthere is no factual basis to sustain liability for Plaintiffs\u00b4 TVPA [Torture Victim Protection Act of 1991] claims against the individual defendants.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
Drummond stated, \u201cWith the Company and its executives cleared of any wrong-doing, Drummond welcomes this ruling as a re-affirmation that we conduct business obeying the law. At no time have we been involved in illegal activities or in relationships with illegal groups. This case was brought about by ambitious lawyers seeking large windfall profits by creating false charges using paid witnesses. Evidence has been uncovered that these witnesses and\/or their families were given financial benefits by the lawyers. JUSTICE HAS BEEN SERVED BY THE COURTS!<\/strong> Now, these falsely accused executives can work without these false accusations hanging over their heads so that they and the Company can work to create a better and safer way of life for our workers and the communities in which we work.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The United States Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit in Atlanta, after reviewing Jane Doe, et al., versus Drummond Company Inc., Drummond Ltd., et al., in which the company and two of its executives had been accused of allegedly being involved in a conspiracy with paramilitary groups, dismissed the case after ruling it lacked merits. The lawsuit had originally been filed in 2009.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8725","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-press-releases"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n