In a blow to human rights advocates, a federal appeals court on Tuesday dismissed a proposed class action brought by eight Malian citizens. The lawsuit aimed to hold Hershey (HSY.N), Nestle (NESN.S), and five other major companies accountable for child labor practices on cocoa farms in Ivory Coast.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled unanimously, 3-0, finding no direct link between the plaintiffs’ experiences of forced labor and the companies’ alleged efforts to secure “cheap cocoa harvested by enslaved children.”
The plaintiffs described being forced to live in deplorable conditions and threatened with starvation if they refused to work. According to their complaint, they were lured by strangers with false promises of paid employment, only to be trafficked and enslaved on cocoa farms.
They brought the lawsuit under a federal law meant to protect children and other victims of human trafficking and forced labor. However, Circuit Judge Justin Walker noted the plaintiffs only alleged that they worked in cocoa producing regions that might have supplied the defendant companies, not on specific farms that did.
“Is there a ‘possibility’ that at least some of the importers sourced cocoa from those farms? Yes,” Walker wrote. “But is it ‘plausible’? Not on this complaint.”
The companies named in the suit include privately held Cargill and Mars, as well as Mondelez International (MDLZ.O), Barry Callebaut (BARN.S), and Olam International. Hershey and Nestle were also among the defendants. These companies collectively purchase roughly 70% of all Ivorian cocoa.
A lower court had previously ruled in favor of the companies back in June 2022.
Terry Collingsworth, an attorney for the plaintiffs, expressed frustration with the ruling. He said his clients were “extremely disappointed” and are considering their next legal steps. “The court rewarded the chocolate multinational defendants for concealing their cocoa supply chains, such that former child slaves are unable to link a specific company to the Cote d’Ivoire farms where they were enslaved,” he said.
This is not the first time the court has ruled against similar claims. In March 2024, the same federal appeals court dismissed a related case targeting five major tech companies, including Apple (AAPL.O) and Tesla (TSLA.O), over child labor in cobalt mines in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Mali and Ivory Coast, both in West Africa, share a border and are central to the global cocoa supply chain.
