Litigation

En banc Ninth Circuit addresses claims of Bougainville, Papua New Guinea residents who allege that they or their family members were victims of numerous violations of international law resulting from Rio Tinto, PLC's Bougainville mining operations

Way back in August 2006, a divided three-judge Ninth Circuit panel issued this ruling in the case. The Ninth Circuit granted rehearing en banc on August 20, 2007, and the case was reargued en banc on October 11, 2007.

Out of the eleven-judge en banc panel, only three judges join in the opinion announcing the judgment of the court. But three other judges -- at least one somewhat reluctantly -- join in the lead opinion's result, allowing the court to issue a judgment that speaks for a majority of the en banc panel. The order in which the opinions are organized is, as a result, unusual -- after the lead opinion comes a concurring opinion, then a dissenting opinion, then a concurring opinion, and finally a dissent written by Circuit Judge Stephen Reinhardt in which four judges have joined.

My earlier coverage of the three-judge panel's ruling in the case can be accessed here and here. And the "Opinio Juris" blog analyzed the three-judge panel's ruling in posts you can access here and here.

Full post as published by How Appealing on December 16, 2008 (boomark / email).