A federal judge in Los Angeles on Wednesday granted the people of a small, South Pacific island the right to take a British mining conglomerate to trial in the United States.
U.S. District Court Judge Margaret Morrow granted Mill Creek attorney Paul Stocker’s request to face the company, Rio Tinto, in court.
Stocker, who filed the lawsuit on behalf of the indigenous people of Bougainville Island, accuses Rio Tinto of numerous violations of international law following creation of a gold and copper mine on the island in the late 1960s. Seattle attorney Steve Berman, who successfully fought tobacco companies, is the lead attorney on the case.
In court papers, they allege the company engaged in “racial discrimination, environmental devastation, war crimes and crimes against humanity,” during and after the gold and copper mine’s two decades of operation.
The company told The Herald in July it rejects the accusations.
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