Class Action Against AWB Dismissed

On September 18, 2014, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the trial court’s decision dismissing an action against AWB Limited, the corporate successor to the Australian Wheat Board, which is now known as Agrium Asia Pacific Limited. The trial court’s decision is one of five dismissals -- and one of seven favorable court decisions -- Cravath obtained for AWB in actions related to the United Nations Oil-for-Food Programme since 2008.

On February 12, 2014, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas granted Cravath’s motion to dismiss with prejudice an action against AWB Limited, the corporate successor to the Australian Wheat Board, which is now known as Agrium Asia Pacific Limited. This is the fifth time Cravath has successfully represented AWB in a suit concerning the United Nations Oil-for-Food Programme (the “Programme”). This suit involves claims by a number of U.S. citizens who were allegedly injured in terrorist attacks. Plaintiffs assert that those attacks were funded by Saddam Hussein using illegal kickbacks that he received from participants in the Programme. Although AWB was not named as a defendant in the plaintiffs’ lawsuit, the individuals and entities that were named as defendants brought a third-party complaint against AWB and 61 other entities that also participated in the Programme. The third-party complaint asserts a claim for contribution against AWB and the other third-party defendants in the event the defendants in the underlying action are found liable to plaintiffs for violating the Antiterrorism Act (“ATA”).