Multinational Corporations' Responsibility for Tortious and Human Rights Violations: A Comparative Study

Authors

• Fatemeh Bagherzadeh, Fordham Law School

Abstract

Many legal systems make it hard for the victims of human rights violations of multinational corporations to have access to their judicial systems. Multinational corporations are so powerful that they can form our lives and also escape liabilities for the damages caused by their activities. The limited liability theory of corporate law enables the parent company of a corporate group to enjoy privileges and avoid its responsibilities for human rights violations. Recently, litigators and human rights activists are trying to hold multinational corporations liable by expanding some well-established, but infrequent applicable theories such as "piercing the corporate veil" theory. Courts in the United Kingdom and the United States take different approaches to address this issue. This article provides a comparative study of these two legal systems legislation and judicial precedents and the amount of their success to hold parent companies liable for the tortious and human rights violations of their subsidiarie.

Disciplines

Comparative and Foreign Law | Human Rights Law | International Law | Law

Recommended Citation

Fatemeh Bagherzadeh, Multinational Corporations' Responsibility for Tortious and Human Rights Violations: A Comparative Study, 4 Cardozo Int’l & Compar. L. Rev. 857 (2021).
Available at: https://larc.cardozo.yu.edu/ciclr/vol4/iss3/3