WASHINGTON – The Supreme Court has sided with food giants Nestle and Cargill in a lawsuit that claimed they knowingly bought cocoa beans from farms in Africa that used child slave labor.
The justices ruled 8-1 on Thursday in favor of the food companies and against a group of six adult citizens of Mali that claimed they were taken from their country as children and forced to work on cocoa farms in neighboring Ivory Coast. The justices said an appeals court was wrong to let the group’s lawsuit go forward.
Switzerland-based Nestle and Minneapolis-based Cargill have said they have taken steps to combat child slavery and have denied any wrongdoing.
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