Reparations / Fighting Court Cases

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Reparations / Fighting Court Cases

This message will reach people across America and Africa who should know the order of business in this matter but recognize that the position taken by the committee is to combine work scholars and educators are providing today with those of the past, focusing on freedom fighters from the past who have DEDICATED THEIR LIVES TO A BETTER AMERICA WHICH INCLUDES A BOOST OR REPARATIONS FOR AFRICAN-AMERICANS. THESE FREEDOM FIGHTERS ARE BOTH BLACK AND WHITE AND THEY HAVE PRODUCED A LEGACY OF THOSE FROM ABOLITIONIST, QUAKERS, CIVIL RIGHTS LOYALIST AND COMMUNITY ACTIVIST.

Work diligently in the Reparations Movement. Great job Diedria keep the pressure on. African-Americans must stand together to claim what is rightfully theirs. Perhaps the court will agree that there is impropriety on the part of the corporations who were named as defendants but to date the courts have given some lame excuses on why they have dismissed lawsuits for Reparations, summed up by throwing Standing, Statue of Limitations and Sovereign Immunity in our face. The committee does not care what the court decision is but would like to commend the efforts of those who participated in the filing of this and other Reparations lawsuits. The committee looks at the pattern the courts have taken and must let everyone know that their first decision indicates they might come up with some biased opinion on why they may dismiss the case but your filing of the lawsuit is a plus for the movement and we thank you. The committee has provisions for parameters of the lawsuit that are open for amendments that will disclose expectations of the descendants of slaves. Which includes those who are not descendants of slaves understand they are working on a volunteer bases and for those Black People who are victims of crimes against humanity to understand they have a right to receive Reparations for rehabilitation, restitution and compensation. The people who have filed this lawsuit have been informed of this information on previous occasions over the Internet but soon committee representatives will visit the plaintiffs in New York to look at those who have filed this lawsuit to be sure they understand these guidelines. We have polls and surveys showing blacks are adamant about preventing others form benefiting from their pain and suffering. Black Reparations will not go into the pockets of those whom are not descendants of Black African-American Slaves. And we have also declared that Reparations will provide collective and individual compensation of which education is a latter component. The committee intends on stipulating 23 reasons for why other issues must be addressed prior to education.

Bro. Pruitt

In a message dated 12/14/2006 4:38:47 A.M. Pacific Standard Time, paellmann@rcn.com writes:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/custom/newsroom/chi-061213reparations,1,2231995.story?coll=chi-news-hed
Appeals court keeps hope alive for reparations suit
By Michael Higgins
Tribune staff reporter

December 13, 2006, 9:37 PM CST

A federal appeals court revived part of a slavery reparations lawsuit on Wednesday, giving a measure of hope to descendants of slaves who are seeking damages from firms they say profited from the slave trade.

The 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected most of the plaintiffs' claims. But the court ruled that contrary to a trial judge's decision last year, companies could be held liable if they lied about their ties to slavery to avoid chasing away customers.

The appellate judges offered no opinion on whether the plaintiffs would ultimately win on their consumer-protection claims "but merely reject the district court's ruling that they are barred at the threshold," said Judge Richard Posner, writing for a unanimous three-judge panel.

Still, an attorney for the slave descendants called the opinion "a historic victory." U.S. District Judge Charles Norgle had thrown out all of their claims.

The plaintiffs had filed suit against more than a dozen companies, including Aetna insurance, Brown and Williamson Tobacco, CSX railroad, and financial services companies Lehman Brothers and JPMorgan Chase.

"This is the first judicial victory in the slave reparations movement," said Bruce Afran, a plaintiff attorney who argued the appeal in September. "All cases start out with a few defeats, and then they start to gain steam."

The plaintiffs have said they want proceeds from the lawsuit to become part of a trust fund that would benefit the descendants of slaves, possibly to fund education and health care.

Lawyers for several defendants either declined to comment on Wednesday or could not be reached.

Norgle had ruled that the statute of limitations on the plaintiffs' claims had run out, and that it would not be possible for the plaintiffs to show how they had been damaged by the acts of the defendants about 150 years ago.

On Wednesday, the appeals court ruled that Norgle should have dismissed the plaintiffs' claims without barring them from refiling. But the court otherwise largely agreed with Norgle's reasoning.

"It would be impossible by the methods of litigation to connect the defendants' alleged misconduct with the financial and emotional harm that the plaintiffs claim to have suffered," Posner wrote in a 16-page opinion.

Even if a plaintiff showed that Aetna insured slaves or that JPMorgan Chase lent money to slave-buyers, "there is no way to determine that a given black American today is worse off by a specific, calculatable sum of money ... as a result of the conduct," Posner wrote.

Posner compared the case to the ancestor of a Union soldier, killed in battle, who attempts sue a gunmaker that sold guns illegally to the Confederacy.

The ruling was a mixed result for plaintiffs, according to Eric J. Miller, a law professor at St. Louis University who favors reparations.

"On the one hand, they've managed to survive in the appellate court with a reparations suit, which I think is remarkable," Miller said. "The problem is they haven't managed to sustain the main claim, being [the idea] that descendants can sue for reparations on behalf of their ancestors.... Posner has asserted that 150 years is just too long."

Afran said Wednesday that even if the plaintiffs go forward only with the consumer-protection claims, the potential damages could be enormous.

"There are millions of African-AmericansÃ¢â‚¬â€?and other AmericansÃ¢â‚¬â€?who would not do business with those companies if they knew the truth," Afran said.

mjhiggins@tribune.com
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We encourage public discussions, led by the injured, to determine an equitable remedy for the African Holocaust of Enslavement. All African descendents have a right and responsibility to work towards defining and achieving Reparations. The opinions and actions reported on Reparations For Africans are those of the person(s) representing them and in no way should be viewed as NÃ¢â‚¬â„¢COBRAÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s unless clearly stated.

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Bro. Pruitt (Chairman)
Committee for African-American Reparations (CAAR)
UCLA / BA Sociology
Former Professional Basketball Player / European League Switzerland
Independent Scholar / Focusing on Gangs, Crime and Violence
National Community Activist / Focusing on Institutional Racism and Police Brutality
Author / Black History Racism and Reparations
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