The case of Corrie et al. v. Caterpillar, Inc. may seem confusing at first, but the Center for Constitutional Rights has put together a well-developed and highly readable backgrounder piece together at its website that clearly explains both the arguments and their merits. Find amendment complaints, plaintiff opposition statements, precedent rulings and more.

Synopsis

This federal lawsuit was initiated on March 15, 2005 against Illinois-based Caterpillar, Inc. on behalf of the parents of Rachel Corrie, a 23 year old American peace activist and student who was run over and killed by a Caterpillar D9 bulldozer in Gaza as she was trying to protect a home from being demolished while the family was inside. On May 2, 2005, the complaint was amended to include four Palestinian families whose family members were killed or injured when Caterpillar bulldozers demolished their homes on top of them.

Working with CCR on the case are: the International Human Rights Clinic at Ronald A. Peterson Law Clinic at Seattle University School of Law, Seattle-based Public Interest Law Group, PLLC, and the Palestinian Center for Human Rights.

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Members of Rachel Corrie’s family and friends took part in a vigil and informational flyering July 9 as the family as the oral arguments in the case against Caterpillar got under way the in the US Court of Appeals at the Park Place Building in downtown Seattle. The Center for Constitutional Rights (representing the Corrie family and four Palestinian families in the case) held a press conference at noon. The case was widely covered. What follows is a rundown of what’s been reported. Read the rest

Friends of Palestine,
The Rachel Corrie Foundation for Peace and Justice,
and the Corrie Family

Call for Courtroom Support and a Vigil Presence
For Oral Arguments in the Case Corrie, et al., v. Caterpillar

Come for the whole morning or any amount of time

• 9:30 – 10:30 am: Silent Vigil and Informational Flyering
• 10:30 am: The approximate time that the oral arguments will be heard by the Court of Appeals. People are needed in the courtroom to show that the outcome of this case has broad importance to people’s lives, and the struggle to limit corporate abuse of power around the globe.
• 12 pm: A press conference outside the Courthouse will follow the hearing, coordinated by the Center for Constitutional Rights (representing the Corrie family and four Palestinian families)

Read the rest

Dr. El-Farra, a Palestinian physician, activist, and mother, founded the Rachel Corrie Children and Youth Cultural Center in 2003. She is the Director of Gaza Projects for the Middle East Children’s Alliance, serves as a health development consultant for the Union of Health Work Committees in Gaza, and is Vice President of the Palestinian Red Crescent Society. Dr. El-Farra is an internationally-recognized human rights leader who speaks regularly at conferences in Europe and is currently writing a book with Noam Chomsky. She will be in Olympia one day only during her first US speaking tour, which will also take her to the US Social Forum in Atlanta, the national conference of United for Peace and Justice in Chicago, and to “The World Says No to Israeli Occupation” – a mass mobilization in Washington DC. All funds raised on Dr. El-Farra’s tour will go directly to serving the needs of women, children, and families in the Gaza Strip.