Bloomberg.com
By David Glovin
June 3 (Bloomberg) — Shell Petroleum Development Co. of Nigeria, an affiliate ofRoyal Dutch Shell Plc, must face a lawsuit accusing it of crimes against humanity, a U.S. federal court ruled.
The U.S. Court of Appeals in New York today reinstated a case against Shell Nigeria, which a lower-court judge had dismissed last year. A related human-rights suit against Royal Dutch Shell was scheduled to go to trial last month and has been postponed indefinitely.
The appeals court also ordered the trial-court judge to reconsider rulings barring the plaintiffs from obtaining documents from Shell Nigeria. Judith Brown Chomsky, one of the lawyers suing Shell and Shell Nigeria, said the plaintiffs are now optimistic theyll get more documents.
This is another step in holding Shell Nigeria accountable for its role in the human-rights violations, Chomsky said in a statement.
A hearing scheduled for today in the case against Royal Dutch Shell was postponed. Shell Nigeria is part of Royal Dutch Shell as an indirect subsidiary, Chomsky said in an interview.
Both companies are accused by relatives of activists killed from 1990 to 1995 in Nigeria of helping the government carry out attacks. The appeals court said in its ruling today that the U.S. court had sufficient jurisdiction over Shell Nigeria.
A spokesman for Royal Dutch Shell, based in The Hague, didnt immediately return a call seeking comment.
The case is Wiwa v. Shell Petroleum, 08-1803, U.S. Court of Appeals (Manhattan).
To contact the reporter on this story: David Glovin in U.S. District Court in New York at [email protected].
Last Updated: June 3, 2009 13:59 EDT
This website and sisters royaldutchshellplc.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.
Royal Dutch Shell conspired directly with Hitler, financed the Nazi Party, was anti-Semitic and sold out its own Dutch Jewish employees to the Nazis. Shell had a close relationship with the Nazis during and after the reign of Sir Henri Deterding, an ardent Nazi, and the founder and decades long leader of the Royal Dutch Shell Group. His burial ceremony, which had all the trappings of a state funeral, was held at his private estate in Mecklenburg, Germany. The spectacle (photographs below) included a funeral procession led by a horse drawn funeral hearse with senior Nazis officials and senior Royal Dutch Shell directors in attendance, Nazi salutes at the graveside, swastika banners on display and wreaths and personal tributes from Adolf Hitler and Reichsmarschall, Hermann Goring. Deterding was an honored associate and supporter of Hitler and a personal friend of Goring.
Deterding was the guest of Hitler during a four day summit meeting at Berchtesgaden. Sir Henri and Hitler both had ambitions on Russian oil fields. Only an honored personal guest would be rewarded with a private four day meeting at Hitler’s mountain top retreat.
IN JULY 2007, MR BILL CAMPBELL (ABOVE, A RETIRED GROUP AUDITOR OF SHELL INTERNATIONAL SENT AN EMAIL TO EVERY UK MP AND MEMBER OF THE HOUSE OF LORDS: 
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A head-cut image of Alfred Donovan (now deceased) appears courtesy of The Wall Street Journal.
