Estate of Alvarez v. Johns Hopkins University

373 F. Supp. 3d 639
CourtDistrict Court, D. Maryland
DecidedJanuary 3, 2019
DocketCivil Action No. TDC-15-0950
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 373 F. Supp. 3d 639 (Estate of Alvarez v. Johns Hopkins University) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Maryland primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Estate of Alvarez v. Johns Hopkins University, 373 F. Supp. 3d 639 (D. Md. 2019).

Opinion

THEODORE D. CHUANG, United States District Judge *640Plaintiffs Estate of Arturo Giron Alvarez and 773 other Guatemalan nationals have filed a civil action against the Johns Hopkins University and four affiliated entities, the Rockefeller Foundation, and Bristol-Myers Squibb Company. Plaintiffs allege that Defendants subjected them or their family members to medical experiments in Guatemala without their knowledge or consent during the 1940s and 1950s, in violation of the law of nations. Presently pending before the Court is Defendants' Motion for Judgment on the Pleadings on the grounds that the Alien Tort Statute, 28 U.S.C. § 1350 (2012), upon which Plaintiffs' claims are based, does not allow for claims against a corporation. On December 18, 2018, the Court heard oral argument on the Motion. For the reasons set forth below, Defendants' Motion will be DENIED.

BACKGROUND

Relevant factual and procedural background is set forth in the Court's September 7, 2016 Decision re: Second Amended Complaint, Estate of Alvarez v. Johns Hopkins Univ. ("Alvarez I" ), 205 F.Supp.3d 681, 683-85 (D. Md. 2016), and the August 30, 2017 Decision re: Third Amended Complaint, Estate of Alvarez v. Johns Hopkins Univ. ("Alvarez II" ), 275 F.Supp.3d 670, 677-78 (D. Md. 2017). Additional facts and procedural history specific to this motion are provided here.

Plaintiffs invoke the Court's jurisdiction under the Alien Tort Statute ("ATS"), 28 U.S.C. § 1350, which provides: "The district courts shall have original jurisdiction of any civil action by an alien for a tort only, committed in violation of the law of nations or a treaty of the United States." Id. The seven Defendants are all U.S. corporations. Specifically, as alleged in the Third Amended Complaint, Defendants the Johns Hopkins University, the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, the Johns Hopkins Hospital, the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, and the Johns Hopkins Health System Corporation (collectively "the Johns Hopkins Defendants") are corporations formed under the laws of Maryland with their principal places of business in Maryland, Defendant the Rockefeller Foundation is a corporation formed under the laws of New York, and Defendant Bristol-Myers Squibb Company is a corporation formed under the laws of Delaware with its principal place of business in New York.

In previous decisions, the Court (Garbis, J.), in finding jurisdiction over Plaintiffs' ATS claims, stated that it "will follow the majority consensus that corporations can be liable under the ATS." Alvarez II , 275 F.Supp.3d at 687 & n.21 ; Alvarez I , 205 F.Supp.3d at 694. When granting in part *641and denying in part Defendants' Motion to Dismiss the Third Amended Complaint in August 2017, the Court acknowledged that the United States Supreme Court had recently "granted certiorari to address whether the ATS categorically forecloses corporate liability." Alvarez II , 275 F.Supp.3d at 687 n.21 (citing Jesner v. Arab Bank, PLC , --- U.S. ----, 137 S.Ct. 1432, 197 L.Ed.2d 646 (2017) ). Since the parties did not seek entry of a stay, the Court stated that it would re-address the issue of corporate liability under the ATS after the Supreme Court's decision in Jesner if it proved "necessary." Alvarez II , 275 F.Supp.3d at 687 n.21. On April 24, 2018, the Supreme Court issued a decision in Jesner v. Arab Bank, PLC , --- U.S. ----, 138 S.Ct. 1386, 200 L.Ed.2d 612 (2018), holding that "foreign corporations may not be defendants in suits brought under the ATS." Id. at 1407. Defendants then filed their Motion for Judgment on the Pleadings, which is now ripe for decision.

DISCUSSION

In Count I of the Third Amended Complaint, Plaintiffs assert an ATS claim based on the allegation that Defendants, all of which are U.S. corporations, conducted medical experiments on them or their family members without the victims' knowledge or consent, and thus committed crimes against humanity, in violation of well-established and customary norms of international law. In their Motion, Defendants seek dismissal of Plaintiffs' ATS claim, the only remaining claim in the case, on the basis of the Supreme Court's decision in Jesner. Defendants argue that although the Supreme Court's holding in Jesner explicitly applied to only foreign corporations, its reasoning also establishes that courts may not permit causes of action under the ATS against domestic corporations.

I. Legal Standard

Defendants' Motion for Judgment on the Pleadings is filed under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(c). "The standard of review for Rule 12(c) motions is the same as that under Rule 12(b)(6)." Drager v. PLIVA USA, Inc. , 741 F.3d 470, 474 (4th Cir. 2014) ; see PETA v. USDA , 861 F.3d 502, 506 (4th Cir. 2017). To defeat a motion to dismiss under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
373 F. Supp. 3d 639, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/estate-of-alvarez-v-johns-hopkins-university-mdd-2019.