Dechert Wins Summary Judgment for The Rockefeller Foundation Rejecting Alien Tort Statute Claims

On April 18, 2022, Dechert secured a significant litigation victory for The Rockefeller Foundation.

The U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland granted summary judgment for The Foundation in Estate of Arturo Giron Alvarez, et al., v. The Johns Hopkins University, et al., a case alleging that The Foundation and other defendants aided and abetted non-consensual human experimentation in Guatemala in the 1940s in violation of the Alien Tort Statute. In a thorough 77-page opinion, the federal district court rejected the claims against The Foundation because there was a “lack of sufficient evidence that Rockefeller was responsible” for the experiments.

This ruling is one of the first summary judgment rulings on the Alien Tort Statute following the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Nestle USA, Inc. v. Doe last year. It conclusively resolves these claims, which have been pending for over six years.

The Dechert team was led by litigation partners Sheila Birnbaum and Michael McGinley, counsel Danielle Gentin Stock, and associate Justin Romeo.

About Dechert

Dechert is a leading global law firm with 22 offices around the world. The firm advises on matters and transactions of the greatest complexity, bringing energy, creativity and efficient management of legal issues to deliver commercial and practical advice for clients.