"Hershey, Nestle, Other Cocoa Companies Defeat Appeal of Child Slavery Lawsuit", 22 July 2025

A federal appeals court on Tuesday rejected a proposed class action by eight Malian citizens who sought to hold Hershey, Nestle and five other companies liable for child labor on Ivory Coast cocoa farms.

In a 3-0 decision, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit found no causal connection between the plaintiffs' forced labor and the defendants' alleged venture to obtain "cheap cocoa harvested by enslaved children."

The plaintiffs said they were required to live in squalor and threatened with starvation if they did not work, after being approached by unfamiliar men who falsely promised paying jobs.

They sued under a federal law protecting children and other victims of human trafficking and forced labor.

Circuit Judge Justin Walker, however, said the plaintiffs alleged at most they worked in areas that supplied cocoa to the defendants, which buy an estimated 70% of Ivorian cocoa, rather than specific farms that supplied the cocoa...

Mali and the Ivory Coast share a border in West Africa. A trial judge ruled for the defendants in June 2022.

Terry Collingsworth, a lawyer representing the plaintiffs, said his clients were "extremely disappointed" and considering their legal options...  

The case is Coubaly et al v Cargill Inc et al, D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, No. 22-7104.