Doe, et al. v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.

Case Updates

U.S. District Court Judge Andrew J. Guilford rejected claims that Wal-Mart was responsible for the working conditions of its suppliers’ factories in China, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Swaziland, and Nicaragua. The judge also threw out allegations that Wal-Mart violated California Business and Professional Code section 17200 for advertising it only was using responsible suppliers, and the federal Alien Tort Statute claims for aiding and abetting foreign supplier misconduct.

Employees of Wal-Mart’s foreign suppliers sued in California federal court to require Wal-Mart to intervene to improve the labor conditions at the foreign suppliers’ plants. In its brief, NCLC argued that the Constitution assigns the responsibility to resolve such issues to the Executive and Legislative branches of the federal government, and therefore the plaintiffs’ claims are preempted under established Supreme Court precedent.