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- Title
JAMES HARDIE AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF PARENT COMPANY LIABILITY: NEW ZEALAND AS A FORUM FOR TRANSNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS LITIGATION?
- Authors
SIATAGA, TALIA
- Abstract
Recent jurisprudence in the United Kingdom and Canada has recognised the possible liability of parent companies for the tortious activity of their subsidiaries domiciled in foreign jurisdictions. "Parent company liability" is thus becoming a litigious avenue through which victims might seek effective legal redress for corporate human rights abuses. In 2019, the New Zealand Court of Appeal (NZCA) endorsed the emerging jurisprudence on parent company liability in the James Hardie litigation. This article critically discusses the decision of the NZCA against the wider global context of corporate impunity for human rights abuses. It examines the recent case law across Australia, the United Kingdom and Canada and the role of internal corporate structures and policies as evidence of a proximate relationship between the parent and subsidiary. It then critically discusses three key policy concerns with the endorsement of parent company liability in New Zealand. Ultimately, this article concludes that the NZCA decision does not represent a dramatic extension of tortious liability, but it does open the doors to a novel form of transnational human rights litigation on New Zealand shores. Overall, the recognition of parent company liability reconciles tort law with the field of 'business and human rights', which has long seen the need to develop stronger mechanisms of legal accountability for corporations operating transnationally.
- Subjects
UNITED Kingdom; CANADA; PARENT companies; FOREIGN subsidiaries; HUMAN rights; NEW Zealand. Court of Appeal; JAMES Hardie Industries PLC
- Publication
Canterbury Law Review, 2021, Vol 28, p77
- ISSN
0112-0581
- Publication type
Article