Esther Kiobel, Individually and on Behalf of Her Late Husband, Dr. Barinem Kiobel, et al., Petitioners v. Royal Dutch Petroleum Co. et al.

Decided April 17, 2013. John Glover Roberts Jr. delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 10-1491 · 569 U.S. 108 (2013) · Cited 438 times

We don’t yet publish a summary of this opinion — read the official text below for the Court’s holding and reasoning.

How the Justices voted

Decided 9–0.

“Concurring” means agreeing with the outcome; any split shown is the Court’s judgment, not each Justice’s reasoning. Source: the Supreme Court Database (Spaeth et al.), Washington University.

Precedents cited

Supreme Court decisions this opinion relies on, ordered by how often it cites each. Cases in our collection link through; others are named.

• Sosa v. Alvarez-Machain · 542 U.S. 692 (2004)
• Morrison v. National Australia Bank Ltd. · 561 U.S. 247 (2010)
• Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. Arabian American Oil Co. · 499 U.S. 244 (1991)
• Microsoft Corp. v. At&t Corp. · 550 U.S. 437 (2007)
• Argentine Republic v. Amerada Hess Shipping Corp. · 488 U.S. 428 (1989)
• McCulloch v. Sociedad Nacional De Marineros De Honduras · 372 U.S. 10 (1963)
• Foley Bros., Inc. v. Filardo · 336 U.S. 281 (1949)
• Sale v. Haitian Centers Council, Inc. · 509 U.S. 155 (1993)
• Benz v. Compania Naviera Hidalgo, S. A. · 353 U.S. 138 (1957)
• F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd. v. Empagran S. A. · 542 U.S. 155 (2004)
• Small v. United States · 544 U.S. 385 (2005)
• Cuba Railroad v. Crosby · 222 U.S. 473 (1912)
• Goodyear Dunlop Tires Operations, S. A. v. Brown · 564 U.S. 915 (2011)
• Mohamad v. Palestinian Authority · 566 U.S. 449 (2012)
• United States v. Detroit Timber & Lumber Co. · 200 U.S. 321 (1906)

Cited by

Later Supreme Court opinions in our collection that cite this case.

• Jesner v. Arab Bank, PLC · 584 U.S. 241 (2018)
• Nestlé USA, Inc. v. Doe · 593 U.S. 628 (2021)
• Abitron Austria GmbH v. Hetronic Int'l, Inc. · 600 U.S. 412 (2023)
• Hernández v. Mesa · 589 U.S. 93 (2020)
• Jam v. International Finance Corp. · 586 U.S. 199 (2019)
• Daimler AG v. Bauman · 571 U.S. 117 (2014)
• Young v. United Parcel Service, Inc. · 575 U.S. 206 (2015)
• Federal Republic of Germany v. Philipp · 592 U.S. 169 (2021)
• Biden v. Texas · 597 U.S. 785 (2022)
• Yegiazaryan v. Smagin · 599 U.S. 533 (2023)

Official text

Read the official opinion (U.S. Reports, govinfo.gov)

Explore from here

John Glover Roberts Jr.’s profile · All Supreme Court opinions · The Supreme Court

Source: the U.S. Reports via govinfo.gov; authoring Justice and vote lineup from the Supreme Court Database (Washington University). Citation count from the Free Law Project’s CourtListener bulk data. Data last verified 2026-07-03. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).