Child Slavery Claims Against Nestle, Cargill Get One More Chance
- Ex-slaves from Mali contend chocolate buyers knew of abuses
- Companies seek -- again -- to keep lawsuit out of U.S. courts
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Six men forced into slavery as boys to harvest cocoa pods have a second chance to go after some of the world’s biggest chocolate companies in U.S. court, saying the companies should have known their suppliers used forced labor.
They’re asking a federal judge in Los Angeles to allow their 12-year-old case to go ahead, even though their alleged captivity was in Ivory Coast. They say Nestle SA and Cargill Inc. employees in the U.S. knew of the forced labor but didn’t take steps to stop it, so they should be able to sue in an American court.