COUNT IX - ALIEN TORTS CLAIMS ACT
(Pled In The Alternative)
236. Plaintiffs on behalf of themselves, their ancestors and all other descendants who are similarly situated, re-allege as if fully set forth, each and every allegation contained in the preceding paragraphs.
237. Many of the torts set out in the instant complaint occurred prior to the formal end of chattel slavery in the United States of America (passage of the 13th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States 1865).
238. Enslaved Africans were aliens, i.e. not considered citizens of the United States, until the passage of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States.
239. Plaintiffs are descendants of these alien, non-citizen Africans who were the victims of the Trans-Atlantic slave trade and slavery in North America and in the United States of America.
240. Trafficking in the international slave trade was prohibited under Federal law after 1808. (See, supra, paras. 31-34.)
241. Slavery and international slave trafficking violated the law of nations, i.e. international customary law prior to 1865. (see paragraphs 30, 32-36 supra)
242. The alien victims of the torts set out in this complaint did not have the access to the Court system necessary to utilize the ATCA.
243. As a result of defendants' acts in violation of the laws of nations, plaintiffs and members of the plaintiff class have been injured and are entitled to compensatory and punitive damages against the defendants in an amount to be determined at trial.
