Lloyd’s Is Hit by Slavery Lawsuit
DESCENDANTS of black American slaves have accused the Lloyd’s of London insurance market and two United States companies of profiting from the slave trade in a lawsuit seeking billions of pounds in damages.
The suit, filed in Manhattan’s federal court, seeks just over £1 billion in punitive damages from Lloyd’s, tobacco firm RJ Reynolds and banking group FleetBoston. The suit also seeks unspecified actual damages.
Filed on behalf of six adults and two children, the suit alleges the companies intentionally sought to destroy the plaintiffs’ “people, culture, religion and heritage”.
Lawyers for the eight plaintiffs said the complaint—unlike past lawsuits seeking reparations for slavery—was the first to use DNA to link the plaintiffs to Africans who suffered atrocities during the slave trade.
The plaintiffs said their ancestors were transported from Africa as part of the slave trade from 1619 to 1865. They allege that Lloyd’s insured slave ships, while FleetBoston, then called Rhode Island’s Providence Bank, financed the ships in the slave trade. RJ Reynolds, the suit claims, profited from plantations.
RJ Reynolds spokeswoman Ellen Matthews said the firm had not yet seen the complaint but added: “Currently we are not aware of any legal precedent or even a legal theory that would allow these cases to proceed to trial.”
A Lloyd’s spokeswoman said it had not seen the claim and was not in a position to comment, but she added that previous claims regarding slavery had been dismissed.
FleetBoston was not available for comment.
The plaintiffs’ attorney is Edward Fagan, who is well known for taking on controversial cases. In 1998 he forced Swiss banks into a £685 million settlement on behalf of victims of the Holocaust.
He said: “For the last eight years every victim group in the world but one has been given its day in court. The only group that remains is Africans or African-Americans.”
There have been other lawsuits to condemn US slavery, but Mr Fagan said his case is different because his clients can trace their roots back to their African ancestry.
Plaintiffs in the past “couldn’t say what their connection was to these companies—that’s all changed, there’s DNA now,” he said.
“Each one of these individuals can tell you specifically where they came from in Africa,” Mr Fagan added.
(Posted on May 15, 2008)
Comments
First off, importation of slaves in the American sense ended in 1808. If Lloyd’s insured them, this means it gave the transporters all the more reason not to hurt them and to keep them healthy as possible, in order to keep their insurance rates low.
Posted by Question Diversity at 5:43 PM on May 15
Is there some quack legal basis for this disgusting nonsense? I haven’t been aware of anything in American law that forces people to pay for the sins of somebody else’s ancestors. Can corporations be assaulted because of their formal continuity with their sinful past (perfectly lawful sins at the time they were committed, by the way)? Wouldn’t a statute of limitations apply? And even if not, is the victimhood of the corporations’ historic prey legally heritable?
Posted by Trilby at 6:34 PM on May 15
AS a white descendant of whites who had nothing to do with slavery or blacks, I hereby demand that whatever part of my taxes that has gone, OVER THE PAST 50 YEARS, to pay for affirmative action, free housing, free childcare, incarceration, free legal aid, free medical care, food stamps,drug and alcohol treatment, aid to africa, or any black country,or any handout to blacks, BE RETURNED TO ME, WITH INTEREST, RIGHT NOW.
Posted by at 6:40 PM on May 15
He said: “For the last eight years every victim group in the world but one has been given its day in court. The only group that remains is Africans or African-Americans.”
That’s because no living “Africans of African-Americans” have ever been slaves. Holocaust victims, Japanese-American WWII detainees and gulag folks are still alive, or were when their legal cases were heard.
“Each one of these individuals can tell you specifically where they came from in Africa,” Mr Fagan added.
Yeah, right. They can tell you all kinds of stuff - most of it fabrication to serve their grudges.
Fagan needs to take that proverbial long walk on that short pier!
Posted by anniemama at 7:04 PM on May 15
Why not sue the African nations who originally sold them into slavery? But no, this is really about what white people did to black people. They have to ignore that without the participation of the blacks who sold slaves, the whole slave trade could not have existed.
Posted by Cogitator at 7:41 PM on May 15
Curious, isn’t it, that they elected to file suit against Western publically-traded companies, the individual shareholders in which have had no connection to slavery, instead of the descendants of the other Africans who sold their ancestors as slaves.
Posted by Michael C. Scott at 8:09 PM on May 15
Hmmm, if wonder how much money edward fagan gets with each settlement? My grandfather once said that the path to Hell was paved with the bones of lawyers. He sure was right. Personally, I think blacks should have been left in Africa. Life expectancy was 20 + years. Their opportunities were unlimited, they could have been slaves to other tribes, eaten by lions, killed by diseases, or just plain cannabalized by one another. They sure have it rough in the western world. Are they just too consumed with hand-outs to realize they are being used by crooked lawyers?
Posted by at 9:18 PM on May 15
The strategy is simple - threaten a large law suit and then settle for about a dime on a dollar to end the bad publicity and massive legal expenses. It is a form of extortion, but the courts currently encourage it. Its done all the time by victim’s advocates.
Posted by Lost in Paradise at 11:06 PM on May 15
I just don’t get it. If someone kidnaped me, and then set me free, but afterwards I chose to live in his house, why would I sue him?
Posted by Aaron at 3:33 AM on May 16
This argument is so full of holes its ridiculous. Yet here it is and these folks (blacks) take it seriously. More evidence of their stupidity. If these guys (blacks) spent half as much of their time and energy trying to be the best that they can be, regardless of what that ends up being, instead of trying to squeeze more hand outs from the rest of society they would be much better off. As a bonus maybe they’d come away with more self respect and dignity.
Realist in Atlanta
Posted by Realist in Atlanta at 5:25 AM on May 16
He said: “For the last eight years every victim group in the world but one has been given its day in court. The only group that remains is Africans or African-Americans.”
A woman in Niger who says she was kept as a slave for a decade launched legal action against the government for failing to implement laws against the practice, in what rights groups described as a test case. In Niger, slavery was only criminalised in 2003 - and the local human rights organisation Timidria estimates 870,000 people are still held in bondage there.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/specials/1357_slavery_today/page3.shtml
BBC World Service | Slavery Today
http://news.scotsman.com/12007/Woman—to-sue-Niger39s.3956536.jp
Woman to sue Niger’s rulers after a decade in slavery
Posted by at 7:42 AM on May 16
http://www.christianaction.org.za/articles_ca/2004-4-TheScourgeofSlavery.htm
While the European involvement in the Trans Atlantic slave trade to the Americas lasted for just over three centuries, the Arab involvement in the slave trade has lasted fourteen centuries, and in some parts of the Muslim world is still continuing to this day….While most slaves who went to the Americas could marry and have families, most of the male slaves destined for the Middle East were castrated, and most of the children born to the women were killed at birth.
It is estimated that possibly as many as 11 million Africans were transported across the Atlantic (95% of which went to South and Central America, mainly to Portuguese, Spanish and French possessions. Only 5% of the slaves went to the United States).
Slaves in Africa - in the early 20th century. However, at least 28 million Africans were enslaved in the Muslim Middle East. As at least 80% of those captured by Muslim slave traders were calculated to have died before reaching the slave markets, it is believed that the death toll from the 14 centuries of Muslim slave raids into Africa could have been over 112 million. When added to the number of those sold in the slave markets, the total number of African victims of the Trans Saharan and East African slave trade could be significantly higher than 140 million people.
Posted by at 9:19 AM on May 16
“Filed on behalf of six adults and two children, the suit alleges the companies intentionally sought to destroy the plaintiffs’ “people, culture, religion and heritage”.”
I’ve been saying for a couple of years that the White Nationalist movement needs to file a suit, if only for the publicity: it would be a good wake up call.
The irony of the above article is that the claim is filed becaseu Lloyd’s ‘intentionally sought to destroy the plaintiffs’ “people, culture, religion and heritage”
ISN’T THIS WHAT IS UNDERWAY AGAINST OUR PEOPLES??? NOT 250 YEARS AGO, BUT RIGHT HERE AND NOW!!!
We have the statistics and facts to show that ethnic cleaning even genocide is underway against whites: homicides, rapes, discrimination etc etc.
Why not file a claim and add the necessary parties…the SPLC, ACLU, ADL, Universities and their tenured buffoons, the federal government, media outlets, and motion picture studios.
If only for the publicity!!
It seems charges of “ethnic cleansing” and “genocide” have a way of tugging at white folk’s heart strings.
Posted by Joe Z at 10:47 AM on May 16
“For the last eight years every victim group in the world but one has been given its day in court. The only group that remains is Africans or African-Americans.”
This is not true. The Germans who were interred in America during WWII, just like the Japanese were, have never been compensated. In fact this equally offensive episode, and the almost equal number of German-Americans who were interred during the war, is almost never talked about. Most people don’t even know it ever happend. I wonder why that could be?
Posted by I should have taken the blue pill. . . at 11:11 AM on May 16
“The plaintiffs’ attorney is Edward Fagan, who is well known for taking on controversial cases. In 1998 he forced Swiss banks into a £685 million settlement on behalf of victims of the Holocaust.”
There is no way one can compare the above case to slavery, because those Swiss banks had knowingly held Nazi money stolen from Holocaust victims.
I would imagine that Lloyd’s could settle out of court with Mister Fagan in a way that would instantly end his career as an extortionist with a law degree. This underworld expedient would cost them a fraction of what it would otherwise cost them in a payout…
Posted by at 11:51 AM on May 16
Easy, simple, the companies are liable because a company is a legal person, so it is a person still “alive” who participated, however the real trouble is proving the “victims” have standing.
First you have to prove they or the people they represent, ie their antecedents, were harmed by these particular “persons” the companies. without first person accounts, or records listing the victims, then the whole thing is a farce.
UNLESS they get and activist judge, we don’t have any of those do we, who will allow the generations of abuse through racism as injury. I would donate to the companies but I think they can handle it on their own.
I will also donate to send the descendants back to where they come from now that DNA has proved just where that is.
Posted by Tip in lost wages at 1:29 PM on May 16
“While the European involvement in the Trans Atlantic slave trade to the Americas lasted for just over three centuries, the Arab involvement in the slave trade has lasted fourteen centuries,……..”
Posted by at 9:19 AM on May 16
Which is to say that the slave trade was a large part of the commercial aspect of the Islamic rise during the Arab Conquest and beyond. But can anyone think of one part of the world where slaves weren’t common? In Europe, peasants were slaves to the extent that they were not free and were bound to the land of their overlords, but they were not captured, moved and sold the way they were in the Mediterranean world and beyond back as early as we can trace until the advent of the colonial period.
Posted by Whiteplight at 1:48 PM on May 16
He said: “For the last eight years every victim group in the world but one has been given its day in court. The only group that remains is Africans or African-Americans.”
My ancestors on my mothers side were from the MacDonald Clan of Glencoe, Scotland, who were murdered and exiled by the Campbell Clan. Shall I sue the famous soup making company? Its just as ridiculous.
Posted by IrishBlood-EnglishHeart at 2:37 PM on May 16
Hold on! Slow down that race-hustling gravy train just one sec for Jesse & Al to climb aboard. These brothas don’t deal in the small numbers, no sir. There’s thousands of descendants of those little black princes stolen from their palaces in Africa who’d be star-trekking astronauts zooming across the heavens, or brain surgeons, philosophers, scientists, computer geniuses the lot, the absolute creme de la creme who’d now be builing an advanced African civilisation but is being forced by evil whitey to remain cooling their heels supping malt liquor in the ghetto. Let’s see now. Four hundred quadrillion multiplied by 600 trillion comes to twenty-four zaquillionmilliongazilliontrillion bucks, that oughtta do it. Hell if it don’t work you can always try and forge a lottery ticket.
Posted by dr dees brainwashing elixir at 3:53 PM on May 16
Average annual income per American black household is over $30,000.
Average annual income per African black household is under $300 in many nations.
Seems the descendants of slaves are doing quite well, comparatively speaking.
Posted by (•▼•) Night Owl at 5:31 PM on May 16
All demands by descendants of black Africans for reparations begin with the position that they themselves have been damaged by the practice of slavery over two centuries ago. One would infer from this argument that the present inhabitants of black Africa enjoy s higher standard of living, are happier, and are better adjusted than American blacks, who have been denied the advantages of black African citizenship by their slave ancestry.
Should any American slave descendants actually believe this and wish to be made whole, the only normal legal remedy would be to repatriate them to the African locale identified by their DNA.
I believe that such a remedy would be heartily endorsed by a white population that has derived no clear benefit from the existence of black African descendants in their midst. In fact, there might be whites with the temerity to claim that blacks of African descent are an enormous net loss to the remaining racial and ethnic groups which comprise the rest of the American population. Without them the American crime rate falls below that of Japan. Without them the entire state and federal bureaucracy needed to sustain them would wither and die. Without them American productivity would rise sharply, as affirmative action and the enormous demand it makes on the American economy would disappear.
Posted by john at 5:42 PM on May 16
“DESCENDANTS of black American slaves have accused the Lloyd’s of London insurance market and two United States companies of profiting from the slave trade in a lawsuit seeking billions of pounds in damages.”
Oh cool. So several people identified which comnpanies are responsible for them being born in the U. S., rather than Africa. Since they still live here, they like here more than Africa so they are obviously going to express gratitude to these companies.
[reads rest of article]
WHAT!!!?
Posted by at 8:31 PM on May 16
First and foremost, the first slaves imported into the states were imported by the Dutch into New Amsterdam, so go sue the Queen of Holland, she has a lot of money.
Secondly, no slave was was taken, they were bought from black chiefs and Arab traders, sue Opec, they have got lots. Third, people pay thousands to get into the states illegally, if they want to stay, let them pay. Some reparations should be made,
all those who want to return to their people, culture, religion and heritage should be
allowed to do so, government to pay return passage. Hang on a sec, that was tried already with Liberia, they started chopping up each other.
Posted by ciccio at 9:00 PM on May 16
I guess I can sue the British Government for the Potato famine, the occupation of Scotland and the French Government for Franco-Prussian War.
Or I can get a life.
Posted by Gen X White Man in Oz at 12:05 AM on May 17
I had always thought that reparations and compensation were for damages suffered. To any rational observer it seems clear that Africans who were, almost exclusively, purchased from other Africans, arguably ended up in a better situation than from whence they came. Their descendants most certainly faired much better than those unfortunate enough to remain stranded in the motherland.
If the descendants of slaves have any complaint at all surely it is with the seller rather than the buyer.
Posted by at 2:11 PM on May 17
Here are just a few thoughts that immediately occur to me. There must be many more:
1. Can someone now living sue on the part of someone else who’s long dead?
2. If so, would they need to establish some clear line of family relationship, rather than just a vague and presumed racial kinship?
2. Whatever transactions occurred in past centuries, these were considered to be normal “business” dealings at the time, and were completely legal. Can these companies be sued retroactively for something long past which was fully legal at that time?
3. Is there no statute of limitations? Even after centuries and generations have passed? If not, this opens an enormously complicated can of worms, justifying individuals and countries to sue for past grievances without limit. Theoretically, Britain could sue Italy for the Roman invasion, or sue Norway for the Vikings’ raids.
Posted by ghw at 11:50 PM on May 18
Once again the only conclusion is that blacks only see race, which is racism in it’s finest form. If we sued the black community for their rape of the west and abuse of our generous charity, they’d owe us ten times over.
Isn’t it funny that ‘The story of the slave trade’ never includes the 2.5 million sex slaves africans kidnapped shortly before. The favour was returned tenfold, and now theycannot handle it….or is it the usual way to control african minds: money and greed.
If we cannot warn our children of african characteristics based on the majority of their CURRENT population, then why should it be allowed that they judge us on the actions of a few hundred dead people?
The whole slave trade issue is yet another shining example of the extreme racism blacks practice globally.
Posted by Bert at 10:08 PM on May 27