In re African-American Slave Descendants Litig., No. MDL 1491 (N.D. Ill. July 6, 2005) ; (notice of appeal to the 7th Cir. filed Aug. 3, 2005, assigned No. 05-3266)- DEx 100121

August 15, 2005

SECTION: Pg. 8
LENGTH: 881 words

The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois dismissed the second amended complaint for reparations in the consolidated class actions by descendants of slaves held in the North American colonies and later the United States against several private corporations that allegedly profited from slave activity.

Deadria Farmer-Paellmann, the alleged great-great-granddaughter of Clara and Abel Hinds, Africans enslaved on a South Carolina rice plantation, joined several suits by other slave descendants seeking reparation. The consolidated complaint alleged the predecessors of 17 private companies, including FleetBoston Financial Corp., CSX Corp. and Aetna Inc., unjustly profited from slave labor, the sale of slaves or the sale of insurance policies for slaves.

The class members claimed the companies' predecessors' conduct intentionally and negligently inflicted emotional distress on slaves and their descendants. The named companies moved to dismiss, arguing class members lacked standing, the claims were time-barred and slave reparation represented a non-justiciable political question (see 4 Cl.Act.L.Mon. 4-11, Feb. 29, 2004).

In addressing standing, the district court held no causal connection was shown between the alleged injury and misconduct as the complaint failed to claim that these specific slave ancestors or their descendants were enslaved by the named companies' predecessors.

As to alleged injuries, the district court ruled class members' claims of lost inheritances were speculative. The district court ruled neither social consequences of slavery such as racial disparities in income, employment and education nor the companies' alleged concealment of prior slave dealings established a concrete and particularized injury to the slave descendants.

Former slave reparations ruled non-justiciable political question.

In its opinion addressing the evils of slavery, the district court ruled that generalized grievances shared by a wide portion of the public were more appropriate for congressional contemplation.

As Congress committed to slave reparations through the Federal Confiscation Acts, the Bureau for the Relief of Freedmen and Refugees, and civil rights legislation, the district court held that these reparations claims represented policy determinations more efficiently handled by the legislative and executive branches.

According to the district court, class members pled facts establishing a statute of limitations defense by alleging the slave trade ended in 1865. Ruling that none of the argued equitable principles for tolling the statute of limitations applied, the district court dismissed the complaint with prejudice for failure to state a claim for which relief may be granted.

Judge : Charles Norgle

Source: Class Action Law Monitor, 08/15/2005

LOAD-DATE: August 16, 2005

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