Chocolate Giants Win Appeal in Child Labor Lawsuit

A U.S. appeals court has dismissed a lawsuit accusing major chocolate manufacturers, including Hershey and Nestlé, of complicity in child labor practices on West African cocoa farms. The case was brought by eight Malian citizens who claimed they were trafficked and forced to work in squalid conditions on Ivory Coast farms supplying cocoa.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ruled unanimously that the plaintiffs failed to establish a direct connection between their forced labor and the defendant companies’ actions. The court said the allegations showed, at most, that the plaintiffs worked in regions supplying cocoa, not on farms directly linked to the companies.

The lawsuit targeted seven corporations, including Cargill, Mars, Mondelez, Barry Callebaut, and Olam, under U.S. anti-trafficking laws.

Attorney Terry Collingsworth, who represents the plaintiffs, said they are weighing their legal options, arguing the companies benefit from opaque supply chains that prevent victims from proving corporate responsibility.

This is the second recent loss for Collingsworth, who also led a failed lawsuit against Apple and Tesla over child labor in Congo’s cobalt mines. Critics say both cases highlight the legal difficulties of tracing supply chains and holding multinational firms accountable for human rights abuses abroad.