WASHINGTON—The Supreme Court declined Monday to hear an appeal by Exxon Mobil Corp. seeking to dismiss a lawsuit by 11 Indonesian villagers who claim the company's security forces committed human rights abuses at a natural gas processing plant in the Aceh province.
The high court followed the recommendation of the U.S. government and it turned down the company's appeal without any comment. The Supreme Court's action does not set any precedent and does not represent a ruling on the merits of the dispute.
The lawsuit, filed in 2001 in federal court in Washington claimed the security forces at the facility were comprised exclusively of members of the Indonesian military and that Exxon retained them even though it had been aware the Indonesian army had committed human rights abuses in the past.
A federal appeals court in 2007 upheld a U.S. District judge's refusal to dismiss the entire lawsuit. It rejected the company's arguments that the case raised political questions outside the jurisdiction of U.S. courts.
The issue in Exxon Mobil's appeal to the Supreme Court involved the question of whether the district court's denial can be immediately appealed. The high court's rejection of Exxon's appeal allows the lawsuit to go forward before the federal judge.
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