John Roe I v. Bridgestone Corp.

ENTRY ON DEFENDANTS’ MOTION TO DISMISS

Plaintiffs are adults and children who work on a rubber plantation in the West African nation of Liberia. Based on allegations of forced labor, forced child labor, poor working conditions, and low wages, plaintiffs seek damages from the Japanese, American, and Liberian companies and two individuals that own and control the plantation. Plaintiffs seek relief in the federal courts of the United States. Their twelve-count Complaint asserts claims under international law pursuant to the Alien Tort Statute, 28 U.S.C. § 1350, the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, a federal statute authorizing *991 civil actions for criminal forced labor violations, 18 U.S.C. § 1595, and California law.

The plaintiffs originally filed this action in the Central District of California. That court granted the plaintiffs’ motion to proceed using pseudonyms. Defendants filed a motion to transfer venue to the Southern District of Indiana and a motion to dismiss under Rules 12(b)(1) and 12(b)(6) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. The Central District of California granted the motion to transfer venue under 28 U.S.C. § 1404(a) based on the case’s lack of connection to California and the fact that two defendants are headquartered or reside in the Southern District of Indiana. The California court did not address the motion to dismiss.

For the reasons explained in detail below, the defendants’ motion to dismiss all claims for lack of subject matter jurisdiction is denied. The motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim is granted with respect to Count One and Counts Three through Twelve and denied with respect to Count Two, the child labor claim under international law.

The adult plaintiffs’ principal claim for forced labor in violation of international law is undermined by plaintiffs’ own allegations that they are afraid of losing the same jobs they claim they are being forced to perform. Forced labor cannot be equated with only low wages and difficult working conditions, which are all too common throughout the world. Some forms of truly forced labor violate specific, universal and obligatory norms of international law, but the circumstances alleged by the adult plaintiffs in this case do not. See generally Sosa v. Alvarez-Machain, 542 U.S. 692, 732-33, 124 S.Ct. 2739, 159 L.Ed.2d 718 (2004) (explaining that the Alien Tort Statute is available to enforce a narrow class of specific, universal, and obligatory norms of international law). The Count Two claims of at least some of the child plaintiffs under international law survive the motion to dismiss. Plaintiffs allege that the defendants are actively encouraging parents to require children as young as six, seven, and ten years old to work full-time at heavy and dangerous jobs on defendants’ plantation tapping raw latex from rubber trees. As applied to the alleged working conditions for these young children, international law is sufficiently specific, universal, and obligatory to permit relief under the Alien Tort Statute. See International Labour Organization [“ILO”], Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention (No. 182), June 17, 1999, 38 I.L.M. 1207, available at http://www.ilo.org/ilolex/english/ convdisp 1 /htm (last visited June 25, 2007), Docket No. 2-85, Exhibit D (hereinafter “ILO Convention 182”).

I. The Parties

The Firestone Rubber Plantation (“the Plantation”) near Harbel, Liberia is the world’s largest rubber plantation. The Plantation was founded in 1926 under an agreement between the Firestone Tire and Rubber Company and the Liberian government, with what might be called strong encouragement from the United States government. All of the raw latex produced at the Plantation is sold to or otherwise controlled by other Bridgestone Firestone companies.

Plaintiffs John Roe I through John Roe XII are adults who work as latex “tappers” on the Plantation. They cut into the rubber trees and collect the raw latex for eventual processing into tires and other rubber products. Plaintiffs James Roe I through James Roe XV and Jane Roe I through Jane Roe VIII are children who have assisted their parents or other family members in work at the Plantation. The child plaintiffs range in age from six to sixteen years old. Plaintiffs seek to repre *992 sent two plaintiff classes. The first proposed class is all adults who worked as tappers on the Plantation at any time between November 17, 1995 and the present under the conditions described in the Complaint. Compl. ¶ 79. (Claims under the Alien Tort Statute, 28 U.S.C. § 1350, have been held subject to a ten-year statute of limitations. E.g., Jean v. Dorelien, 431 F.3d 776, 778-79 (11th Cir.2005).) The second proposed class is all persons who, during the period November 17, 1995 through the present, “were forced as children to work on the Firestone Plantation so that their families could meet their quota and be paid enough to allow the family to avoid starvation.” Compl. ¶ 80. 1

The named defendants are Bridgestone Corporation; Bridgestone Americas Holding, Inc.; Bridgestone Firestone North American Tire, LLC; BFS Diversified Products, LLC; Firestone Polymers, LLC; Firestone Natural Rubber Company, LLC; the Firestone Plantation Company; Daniel J. Adomitis; and Charles Stuart. 2

Bridgestone Corporation is headquartered in Japan and is the world’s largest manufacturer of tires and other rubber products. Defendant Bridgestone Americas Holding, Inc. is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Bridgestone Corporation and has its headquarters in Nashville, Tennessee. Defendant Bridgestone Firestone North American Tire, LLC, is a subsidiary of Bridgestone Americas Holding, Inc. and also has headquarters in Nashville.

BFS Diversified Products, LLC is another subsidiary of Bridgestone Americas Holding, Inc. and has its headquarters in the Southern District of Indiana. Defendant Firestone Polymers, LLC is in turn a subsidiary of BFS Diversified Products, LLC and has its headquarters in Ohio.

Firestone Natural Rubber Company, LLC is a Delaware company described in the Complaint as a “division” of BFS Diversified Products, LLC. 3 Firestone Plantation Company is a Liberian subsidiary of Firestone Natural Rubber Company, LLC, and also has control of the Plantation. The concession agreement governing the Plantation is an agreement among the government of Liberia, Firestone Natural Rubber Company, LLC, and Firestone Plantation Company. See Adomitis Aff., Ex. A. (Docket No. 2-26.)

Defendant Daniel J. Adomitis is the president of Firestone Natural Rubber Company, LLC and senior counsel in the *993 legal department of Bridgestone Americas Holding, Inc. He signed the 2005 concession agreement with Liberia. Plaintiffs allege that Adomitis is involved in the day-to-day operation of the Plantation and the shipping and distribution network that brings the latex to the United States. Defendant Charles Stuart is the president and managing director of Firestone Plantation Company, the Liberian subsidiary. He also signed the concession agreement with Liberia. Plaintiffs allege that he is the on-site manager of the Plantation.

II. The Claims

As detailed below, the Complaint describes working conditions at the Plantation. Based on those allegations, plaintiffs have asserted twelve counts against all the defendants, claiming that each defendant is responsible for all of the alleged wrongs.

Count One seeks relief under the Alien Tort Statute, 28 U.S.C. § 1350, on behalf of the adult plaintiffs on the theory that defendants violated the law of nations by forcing the plaintiffs to work at the Plantation. Plaintiffs rely on the ILO Forced Labour Convention (No. 29), June 28, 1930, 39 U.N.T.S. 55, available at http:// www.ilo.org/ilolex/english/convdispl.htm (last visited June 25, 2007), Docket No. 2-78, Exhibit A (hereinafter “ILO Convention 29”); ILO Abolition of Forced Labour Convention (No. 105), June 26, 1957, 320 U.N.T.S. 291, available at http://www.ilo. org/ilolex/english/convdispl.htm (last visited June 25, 2007), Docket No. 2-79 (hereinafter “ILO Convention 105”); the United Nations Charter; the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, G.A. Res. 217A, U.N. GAOR, ed Sess., 1st píen, mtg., U.N. Doc A/810 (Dec. 10, 1948), available at http://www.unhchr.ch/udhr/lang/eng.htm (last visited June 25, 2007); the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, G.A. Res. 2200A (XXI), 21 U.N. GAOR Supp. (No. 16) at 52, U.N. Doc. A/6316 (1966), 999 U.N.T.S. 171, entered into force March 23, 1976, available at http://www.ohchr.org/english/law/ccpr.htm, (last visited June 25, 2007); and customary international law. Plaintiffs also refer to the labor laws of Liberia and of California, where they originally filed the action. Count Two is a parallel claim by the child plaintiffs for forced labor, which also relies on ILO Convention 182 on the Worst Forms of Child Labour and ILO Minimum Age Convention (No. 138), (June 17, 1973), available at http://www.ilo.org/ilolex/ english/convdispLhtm (last visited June 25, 2007), Docket No. 2-39, Baxter Decl. Ex. D (hereinafter “ILO Convention 138”).

Count Three seeks relief under the Alien Tort Statute on behalf of the adult plaintiffs for cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment in violation of the customary law of nations. Count Four is a parallel claim by the child plaintiffs.

Count Five alleges a claim by the adult plaintiffs for forced labor directly under the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. Count Six is a parallel claim by the child plaintiffs.

Count Seven seeks relief for the adult plaintiffs under 18 U.S.C. § 1595, which authorizes a civil remedy for criminal violations of United States forced labor laws, 18 U.S.C. §§ 1589 & 1590. Count Eight is a parallel claim by the child plaintiffs.

Count Nine asserts claims for negligence and recklessness on behalf of all plaintiffs against all defendants, apparently under California law, based on the foregoing allegations of violations of international law and United States law, as well as some Liberian laws. Count Ten alleges a claim for unjust enrichment by all plaintiffs against all defendants, also under California law. Count Eleven alleges a claim by all plaintiffs against all defendants for violating the California Code of Business & *994 Professional Conduct Practice Law, § 17200 et seq. Count Twelve alleges a claim by all plaintiffs against all defendants under California law for negligent hiring and supervision for the foregoing alleged violations of international law, United States law, and Liberian law.

III. The Factual Allegations

The Complaint alleges that after the Liberian government leased the Plantation to Firestone Tire and Rubber Company in 1926, indigenous people were forced from their land and were then conscripted to provide forced labor, first planting and cultivating rubber trees and then harvesting latex from the mature trees. ¶ 40. The Complaint alleges that Firestone agreed to pay local chiefs to deliver able-bodied workers to the Plantation, and that the local chiefs conscripted workers at gunpoint. ¶ 42. According to the Complaint, plaintiffs and most other current workers on the Plantation are third or fourth generation descendants of those original workers, and these plaintiffs have rarely if ever left the Plantation.

The adult plaintiffs work as tappers on the Plantation. The tappers use a machete to cut a rubber tree to allow the raw latex to drip into a cup mounted on the tree. The tapper collects the latex from the cups and dumps them into a large bucket that weighs 75 pounds when full. When two buckets are full, the tapper hangs one bucket on each end of a branch and carries the 150 pounds of latex to a collection location. ¶ 45. The tappers also apply fertilizers and pesticides to the trees. They do so by hand, without warnings or safety equipment. Id.

The Complaint alleges that payment for the tappers is based on a “task,” which is a section of approximately 750 rubber trees. To earn a daily wage equivalent to $3.19 (U.S.), the tapper must tap one complete task of 750 trees and half of a second task, or another 375 trees. If the tapper completes 750 trees but not the additional 375 trees, he is paid only half of the daily wage, or $1.59. Plaintiffs allege that the difference between $3.19 and $1.59 per day is the difference between subsistence and starvation, and they say that earning $3.19 is physically impossible for one adult without unpaid help from children. ¶¶ 47-48. Plaintiffs allege that the Plantation managers and overseers know that the quotas effectively require child labor and have encouraged plaintiffs who complain about the quotas to use their children to help meet the quotas. ¶ 55.

Plaintiffs allege that tappers do not have any days off for worship, family, or other reasons. They receive no paid holidays or sick days. “Because of the relentless production requirements at the Firestone Plantation, even workers who are willing to forgo a day’s pay to get a day off are not able to and are told they will be dismissed if they do so. The extremely high unemployment rate in Liberia, in the rural areas above 80%, allows Firestone to say with confidence that anyone who wants to leave can do so and join the ranks of the starving unemployed.” ¶ 49.

Plaintiffs also allege that Firestone does not give them any formal letter of employment, so that they can be treated as “casual labor” who can be fired for any reason. ¶ 59. Plaintiffs allege that this is a violation of Liberian law that Firestone uses to keep the workers in line. (The allegation is consistent with the doctrine of employment at will that dominates private employment in Indiana and many other states. See Meyers v. Meyers, 861 N.E.2d 704, 706 (Ind.2007) (“Indiana generally follows the employment at will doctrine, which permits both the employer and the employee to terminate the employment at *995 any time for a ‘good reason, bad reason, or no reason at all.’ ”).)

According to the Complaint, Firestone provides medical care in clinics and schools for children on the Plantation. Plaintiffs complain that the clinics are open only three days a week and that the schools charge fees that are deducted from the workers’ wages. ¶¶ 50-51. Company stores sell food and other goods on the Plantation. The plaintiffs complain that after deductions for food and other charges, they are left with virtually nothing at the end of a month. Firestone also provides housing for workers that plaintiffs describe as shacks in shanty-towns, without plumbing or electricity. ¶¶ 52, 55.

In the oral argument on the motion to dismiss, plaintiffs’ counsel emphasized the physical isolation of the Plantation, which makes it difficult and dangerous for any Plantation worker to try to leave if he wanted to do so. Liberia does not have much by way of public transportation even if a worker were able to buy a ticket. A worker who wishes to leave the Plantation faces a long and dangerous walk. Plaintiffs argue that defendants have exploited this isolation by refusing to improve wages and working conditions, since workers do not have a practical alternative to continued work at the Plantation.

Liberia experienced a generation of coups d’état, civil war, and turmoil from approximately 1980 to 2003. Firestone managed to keep the Plantation open and productive through most of that time, but production stopped for several years. The Plantation was certainly affected by the fighting. The Complaint alleges that in 1994, Firestone appointed as the chief of security for the Plantation General Adol-phus Dolo, who had been loyal to President Charles Taylor. ¶ 62. (Taylor is currently on trial in The Hague, Netherlands, for alleged war crimes in Sierra Leone.) The Complaint alleges that Firestone hired other associates of Taylor and used its shipping facilities to import arms and ammunition for the Taylor regime. Id.

The Complaint summarizes the case as follows:

64. As the Firestone Plantation was initially created to allow, the Plantation Workers and the Plantation Child Laborers suffer daily injuries from the extremely exploitative practices on the Plantation. The Plantation Workers are modern day slaves, forced to work by the coercion of poverty, with the prospect of starvation just one complaint about conditions away. They are isolated on the Plantation by design, and are completely dependent upon the Firestone Plantation for access to food and for the only homes they have ever known, the one-room shacks in filthy shanty towns provided by the company. The paltry net wage the workers receive ensures that they also do not have the resources for transportation to escape the Plantation. The Plantation Workers are simply fulfilling the destiny planned for them by the founders of the Firestone Plantation in 1926. The original workforce was captured and forced to work for Firestone. Succeeding generations were kept on the Plantation by poverty, fear, and ignorance of the outside world, living in a cycle of poverty and raising their children to be the next generation of Firestone Plantation Workers.

65. The Plantation Child Laborers are forced to work to avoid the starvation of their families. These young children have not reached the legal age of consent by any definition, and therefore could not possibly agree to become laborers for the Firestone Plantation. They suffer daily the deprivations of living a slave-like existence, including *996 malnutrition, disease, physical ailments from exposure to chemicals, and the lack of decent educational opportunities.

66. All of the Plantation Workers seek the simple justice of the freedom to choose whether to work, the opportunity to work free of coercion, the security of a proper employment relationship, the benefit of wages that do not leave them in malnourished poverty, and the meager benefits provided under the law of Liberia, including rest days and holidays. Most of all, they seek the cessation of conditions that formed the premise of the Firestone Plantation, and that have left them in the same situation as their own fathers, watching their own children join them as tappers with no future other than the misery they have experienced their entire lives.

The overarching questions in this case are whether the wages and working conditions described in the Complaint violate international law, as well as what role, if any, United States courts might have in addressing such wages and working conditions for employees of foreign subsidiaries of global businesses. The more specific questions in the case are whether the court has jurisdiction over the subject matter and whether plaintiffs have stated claims upon which relief can be granted. The court addresses in turn the plaintiffs’ claims under the Thirteenth Amendment, their claims under 18 U.S.C. § 1595, their claims under the Alien Tort Statute, 28 U.S.C. § 1350, and finally their claims under state law.

IV. Rule 12(b)(6) Standard

Apart from jurisdictional issues discussed below, the defendants’ motion must be treated as a motion to dismiss under Rule 12(b)(6) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure for failure to state a claim upon which relief may be granted. In deciding the motion, the court must assume as true all well-pleaded facts set forth in the complaint, construing the allegations liberally and drawing all inferences in favor of the plaintiffs. E.g., Brown v. Budz, 398 F.3d 904, 908-09 (7th Cir.2005). While a complaint need not contain detailed factual allegations to survive a Rule 12(b)(6) motion to dismiss, it is not enough merely that there might be some conceivable set of facts which entitle the plaintiffs to relief. Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. -, -, 127 S.Ct. 1955, 1968-69, 167 L.Ed.2d 929, - (2007), abrogating in part Conley v. Gibson, 355 U.S. 41, 78 S.Ct. 99, 2 L.Ed.2d 80 (1957). Instead, a plaintiff has an obligation under Rule 8(a)(2) to provide the grounds of his or her entitlement to relief. This obligation requires more than labels and conclusions, and a formulaic recitation of the elements of a cause of action will not suffice. 550 U.S. at -, 127 S.Ct. at 1965. Factual allegations must be enough to raise a right to relief above the speculative level, treating the factual allegations as true. Id.

A count may be dismissed under Rule 12(b)(6), however, if it includes particulars that show the plaintiffs cannot possibly be entitled to the relief they seek. Thomas v. Farley, 31 F.3d 557, 558-59 (7th Cir.1994). The court is not obliged to ignore any facts set forth in the complaint that undermine the plaintiffs’ claims, nor must the court give any weight to unsupported conclusions of law. Northern Indiana Gun & Outdoor Shows, Inc. v. City of South Bend, 163 F.3d 449, 452 (7th Cir.1998), quoting R.J.R. Services, Inc. v. Aetna Casualty & Surety Co., 895 F.2d 279, 281 (7th Cir.1989). In effect, a plaintiff may plead himself out of court by including factual allegations that defeat his claim for relief. E.g., Jackson v. Marion County, 66 F.3d 151, 153-54 (7th Cir.1995).

*997 V. Thirteenth Amendment Claims

Section One of the Thirteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution provides: “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.” In Counts Five and Six of the Complaint, plaintiffs allege that defendants have violated the Thirteenth Amendment by knowingly recruiting, harboring, transporting, providing, or obtaining adult and child plaintiffs for the purpose of forcing them to work on the Plantation by means of severe physical and/or mental abuse and restraint, or by schemes and duress intended to induce fear of severe physical and/or mental abuse and restraint, and that defendants acted with a willful and conscious disregard for the plaintiffs’ rights. Compl. ¶¶ 110-19.

The court has subject matter jurisdiction over these claims based on general federal question jurisdiction, 28 U.S.C. § 1331, regardless of whether plaintiffs have alleged viable claims on the merits. “[T]he absence of a valid (as opposed to arguable) cause of action does not implicate subject-matter jurisdiction, ie., the courts’ statutory or constitutional power to adjudicate the case.” Steel Co. v. Citizens for a Better Environment, 523 U.S. 83, 89, 118 S.Ct. 1003, 140 L.Ed.2d 210 (1998); accord, Bell v. Hood, 327 U.S. 678, 682, 66 S.Ct. 773, 90 L.Ed. 939 (1946) (jurisdiction not defeated by possibility that allegations “might fail to state a cause of action on which petitioners could actually recover”).

Defendants argue that the Thirteenth Amendment claims must be dismissed for two reasons: first, the Thirteenth Amendment does not itself provide a private right of action for damages; second, the Thirteenth Amendment itself does not reach conduct outside the United States. The court agrees with defendants on both points without reaching defendants’ additional arguments on whether the alleged conditions on the Plantation in Liberia would violate the Thirteenth Amendment if it were located in the United States.

A. No Implied Right of Action for Damages

Although the question does not arise frequently, federal district courts have consistently held that the Thirteenth Amendment itself does not provide a private right of action for damages. See, e.g., Bhagwanani v. Howard Univ., 355 F.Supp.2d 294, 301 & n. 5 (D.D.C.2005); Jane Doe I v. Reddy, No. C-02-05570, 2003 WL 23893010, at *10 (N.D.Cal. Aug. 4, 2003) (granting motion to dismiss); Doe I v. The Gap, Inc., No. CV-01-0031, 2001 WL 1842389, at *16-18 (D.N. Mar. I. Nov. 26, 2001) (granting motion to dismiss); Del Elmer v. Metzger, 967 F.Supp. 398, 402 (S.D.Cal.1997) (granting motion to dismiss); Holland v. Board of Trustees of Univ. of District of Columbia, 794 F.Supp. 420, 424 (D.D.C.1992) (granting motion to dismiss); Sanders v. A.J. Canfield Co., 635 F.Supp. 85, 87 (N.D.Ill.1986) (granting motion to dismiss and awarding sanctions under Rule 11); Baker v. McDonald’s Corp., 686 F.Supp. 1474, 1480 n. 12 (S.D.Fla.1987) (granting motion to dismiss), aff'd, 865 F.2d 1272 (11th Cir.1988); Westray v. Porthole, Inc., 586 F.Supp. 834, 838-39 (D.Md.1984) (granting motion to dismiss); Turner v. Unification Church, 473 F.Supp. 367, 373-74 (D.R.I.1978) (granting motion to dismiss), aff'd, 602 F.2d 458 (1st Cir.1979).

Plaintiffs have not cited any decisions contrary to the many cases holding that there is no direct cause of action for damages under the Thirteenth Amendment. Instead, plaintiffs rely on the Supreme Court’s 1883 statement that the Thirteenth Amendment

*998 is undoubtedly self-executing without any ancillary legislation, so far as its terms are applicable to any existing state of circumstances. By its own unaided force and effect it abolished slavery, and established universal freedom. Still, legislation may be necessary and proper to meet all the various cases and circumstances to be affected by it, and to prescribe proper modes of redress for its violation in letter or spirit. And such legislation may be primary and direct in its character; for the amendment is not a mere prohibition of State laws establishing or upholding slavery, but an absolute declaration that slavery or involuntary servitude shall not exist in any part of the United States.

The Civil Rights Cases, 109 U.S. 3, 20, 3 S.Ct. 18, 27 L.Ed. 835 (1883). The Civil Rights Cases did not hold or suggest that there is a private right of damages directly under the Thirteenth Amendment, nor is such a private right of damages needed for the Thirteenth Amendment to be effective. Once the Thirteenth Amendment abolished legal recognition of slavery, the wrongs committed by masters against slaves became actionable under conventional tort remedies, such as those for false imprisonment or intentional infliction of emotional distress, and contract provisions that might purport to justify slavery or involuntary servitude became void and unenforceable. See Jane Doe I v. Reddy, 2003 WL 23893010, at * 10; see generally Pollock v. Williams, 322 U.S. 4, 64 S.Ct. 792, 88 L.Ed. 1095 (1944) (reviewing history of anti-peonage decisions). And of course, Section Two of the Thirteenth Amendment gave Congress the power to implement the Amendment through legislation, some of which is discussed below.

Plaintiffs also cite City of Memphis v. Greene, 451 U.S. 100, 101 S.Ct. 1584, 67 L.Ed.2d 769 (1981), but it does not help their case. The Supreme Court held in City of Memphis that a city’s decision to close a particular street did not violate the Thirteenth Amendment. The Court’s opinion acknowledged the earlier statements that the Thirteenth Amendment was self-executing as to slavery. The Court left open the question whether the Amendment did anything more by its own terms. Id. at 125-26, 101 S.Ct. 1584.

B. No Extraterritorial Effect

Even if the Thirteenth Amendment authorized a direct cause of action for damages against a private entity, the Thirteenth Amendment bars slavery and involuntary servitude only “within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.” By its terms, that language does not appear to reach activity in other countries.

Plaintiffs have not come forward with any authority applying the Thirteenth Amendment to activity in foreign nations. They rely on the federal Trafficking Victims Protection Act, 22 U.S.C. § 7101, stating that Congress relied on the Thirteenth Amendment to give some international reach to the statute. The court does not see such reliance in the statute. The House committee report for the 2003 re-authorization of the legislation relied upon the interstate and foreign commerce clause of the Constitution. See H.R.Rep. No. 108-264(1), reprinted in 2004 U.S.Code, Cong. & Ad. News 2408, 2413. 4

*999 Because the Thirteenth Amendment does not create a private right of action for damages and does not directly reach slavery or involuntary servitude outside the territorial jurisdiction of the United States, plaintiffs could not be entitled to relief on Counts Five and Six. Defendants’ motion to dismiss is granted with respect to Counts Five and Six.

VI. Federal Statutory Claims — Extrater ritorial Application

In Counts Seven and Eight of the Complaint, plaintiffs allege that defendants have violated United States criminal statutes, 18 U.S.C. §§ 1589 and 1590, and plaintiffs seek a civil remedy under 18 U.S.C. § 1595. Plaintiffs allege that the same conduct alleged under the Thirteenth Amendment also violates those statutes. The court has subject matter jurisdiction of these claims under the general federal question jurisdiction, 28 U.S.C. § 1331, regardless of whether the claims are sufficient to withstand a motion to dismiss. In the briefing on the motion to dismiss, plaintiffs have not relied on section 1590, which does not fit this situation, so the court focuses on section 1589.

Section 1589 is entitled “Forced Labor” and provides:

Whoever knowingly provides or obtains the labor or services of a person—

(1) by threats of serious harm to, or physical restraint against, that person or another person;

(2) by means of any scheme, plan, or pattern intended to cause the person to believe that, if the person did not perform such labor or services, that person or another person would suffer serious harm or physical restraint; or

(3)by means of the abuse or threatened abuse of law or the legal process,

shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than 20 years, or both. If death results from the violation of this section, or if the violation includes kidnapping or an attempt to kidnap, aggravated sexual abuse or the attempt to commit aggravated sexual abuse, or an attempt to kill, the defendant shall be fined under this title or imprisoned for any term of years or life, or both.

Section 1595 provides a civil damages remedy for violations of several statutes, including section 1589.

Defendants argue that even if the alleged conditions on the Firestone Plantation in Liberia amount to forced labor, section 1589 does not apply to labor conditions outside the United States. Neither side has cited prior case law determining the extent to which section 1589 applies to conduct outside the United States. The court concludes that section 1595 does not provide a remedy for alleged violations of section 1589’s standards that occur outside the United States.

“Generally speaking, Congress has the authority to apply its laws, including criminal statutes, beyond the territorial boundaries of the United States, to the extent that extraterritorial application is consistent with the principles of international law.” United States v. Dawn, 129 *1000 F.3d 878, 882 (7th Cir.1997), citing E.E. O.C. v. Arabian American Oil Co. (“Aramco”), 499 U.S. 244, 248, 111 S.Ct. 1227, 113 L.Ed.2d 274 (1991), and United States v. Bowman, 260 U.S. 94, 97-98, 43 S.Ct. 39, 67 L.Ed. 149 (1922); see also Foley Brothers v. Filardo, 336 U.S. 281, 284, 69 S.Ct. 575, 93 L.Ed. 680 (1949). Whether Congress has attempted to legislate beyond those territorial boundaries is a question of statutory interpretation.

In answering the question, the court must be guided by the “longstanding principle of American law ‘that legislation of Congress, unless a contrary intent appears, is meant to apply only within the territorial jurisdiction of the United States.’ ” Aramco, 499 U.S. at 248, 111 S.Ct. 1227, quoting Foley Brothers, 336 U.S. at 285, 69 S.Ct. 575. This canon of statutory construction “serves to protect against unintended clashes between our laws and those of other nations which could result in international discord.” Aramco, 499 U.S. at 248, 111 S.Ct. 1227, citing McCulloch v. Sociedad Nacional de Marineros de Honduras, 372 U.S. 10, 20-22, 83 S.Ct. 671, 9 L.Ed.2d 547 (1963); accord, Small v. United States, 544 U.S. 385, 125 S.Ct. 1752, 161 L.Ed.2d 651, (2005) (“we find help in the ‘commonsense notion that Congress generally legislates with domestic concerns in mind,’ ” which has led to “the legal presumption that Congress ordinarily intends its statutes to have domestic, not extraterritorial, application”), quoting Smith v. United States, 507 U.S. 197, 204 n. 10, 113 S.Ct. 1178, 122 L.Ed.2d 548 (1993), and citing Foley Brothers, 336 U.S. at 285, 69 S.Ct. 575.