The Abu Ghraib Verdict Is No More: Fourth Circuit Reverses $42 Million Judgment Against CACI

Article by: Matthew Saliman, Associate

The long-running Abu Ghraib litigation has taken another dramatic turn. Just five months after largely affirming a $42 million jury verdict against CACI Premier Technology Inc., the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit has granted panel rehearing, vacated its prior opinion, and reversed the judgment. The court directed the district court to dismiss the plaintiffs’ case without prejudice. Read the unpublished opinion here.

We have been following this case as it has worked its way through the courts. In March, we discussed the Fourth Circuit’s original decision. Then, in May, we explained that CACI had asked the Fourth Circuit to wait for the Supreme Court’s forthcoming decision in Cisco Systems, Inc. v. Doe, arguing that the decision could reshape the law governing claims under the Alien Tort Statute (“ATS”).

That strategy proved decisive.

The Supreme Court Closes the Door on New ATS Claims

In June, the Supreme Court issued its decision in Cisco. The ATS gives federal courts jurisdiction over certain tort claims brought by non-U.S. citizens for violations of international law. For more than two decades, courts applying the Supreme Court’s 2004 decision in Sosa v. Alvarez-Machain had considered whether particular international-law norms could support judicially recognized causes of action under the statute.

In Cisco, however, the Supreme Court rejected that approach. The Court held that federal courts may not create new causes of action for violations of international law under the ATS, explaining that the power to create such rights belongs to Congress and implicates the political branches’ authority over foreign affairs. The Court left undisturbed only the possibility of claims corresponding to the three offenses historically associated with the ATS: violations of safe conduct, infringement of ambassadors’ rights, and piracy.

That holding effectively eliminated the legal foundation for the Abu Ghraib plaintiffs’ claims for conspiracy to commit torture and cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment.

From $42 Million Verdict to Dismissal

On rehearing, the Fourth Circuit acknowledged that Cisco effectively overruled the framework on which its March decision rested. Because courts can no longer recognize new ATS causes of action, the panel concluded that the plaintiffs’ conspiracy claims must be dismissed.

Judge Marvin Quattlebaum, who dissented from the court’s original decision, wrote separately to emphasize just how narrow ATS litigation may now be. In his view, after Cisco, the only potentially viable ATS claims are those corresponding to the three historical offenses identified above. He also rejected the plaintiffs’ effort to analogize their torture claims to piracy, noting that the Supreme Court’s decision leaves no room for such an expansion.

Key Takeaway for Government Contractors

For contractors, the decision represents a significant narrowing of potential ATS exposure for conduct associated with overseas government operations. More broadly, the case is also a striking reminder of how quickly the legal landscape can change. A $42 million verdict that survived nearly two decades of litigation and was affirmed by the Fourth Circuit in March has now been set aside because of an intervening Supreme Court decision.

And after eighteen years of litigation, the Abu Ghraib saga may finally be approaching its end.