MOHAMAD, INDIVIDUALLY AND FOR ESTATE OF RAHIM, DECEASED, ET AL. v. PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY ET AL.
No. 11-88
Supreme Court of the United States
Argued February 28, 2012—Decided April 18, 2012
566 U.S. 449
SOTOMAYOR, J.
No. 11–88. Argued February 28, 2012—Decided April 18, 2012
Laura G. Ferguson argued the cause for respondents. With her on the brief were Richard A. Hibey, Mark J. Rochon, Dawn E. Murphy-Johnson, Jeffrey A. Lamken, Robert K. Kry, and Martin V. Totaro.
Curtis E. Gannon argued the cause for the United States as amicus curiae supporting affirmance. With him on the brief were Solicitor General Verrilli, Assistant Attorney General West, Deputy Solicitor General Kneedler, Douglas N. Letter, Robert M. Loeb, Lewis S. Yelin, Harold Hongju Koh, and Cameron F. Kerry.*
JUSTICE SOTOMAYOR delivered the opinion of the Court.†
The Torture Victim Protection Act of 1991 (TVPA or Act), 106 Stat. 73, note following
I
Because this case arises from a motion to dismiss, we accept as true the allegations of the complaint. Ashcroft v. al-Kidd, 563 U. S. 731, 734 (2011). Petitioners are the relatives of Azzam Rahim, who immigrated to the United States in the 1970‘s and became a naturalized citizen. In 1995, while on a visit to the West Bank, Rahim was arrested by Palestinian Authority intelligence officers. He was taken to a prison in Jericho, where he was imprisoned, tortured, and ultimately killed. The following year, the U. S. Department of State issued a report concluding that Rahim “died in the custody of [Palestinian Authority] intelligence officers in Jericho.” Dept. of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 1995, Submitted to the House Committee on International Relations and the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, 104th Cong., 2d Sess., 1183 (Joint Committee Print 1996).
In 2005, petitioners filed this action against respondents, the Palestinian Authority and the Palestine Liberation Organization, asserting, inter alia, claims of torture and extrajudicial killing under the TVPA. The District Court granted respondents’ motion to dismiss, concluding, as relevant, that the Act‘s authorization of suit against “[a]n individual” extended liability only to natural persons. Mohamad v. Rajoub, 664 F. Supp. 2d 20, 22 (DC 2009). The United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit affirmed on the same ground. See Mohamad v. Rajoub, 634 F. 3d 604, 608 (2011) (“Congress used the word ‘individual’ to denote only natural persons“).1 We granted certiorari, 565 U. S. 962 (2011), to resolve a split among the Circuits
II
The TVPA imposes liability on individuals for certain acts of torture and extrajudicial killing. The Act provides:
“An individual who, under actual or apparent authority, or color of law, of any foreign nation—
“(1) subjects an individual to torture shall, in a civil action, be liable for damages to that individual; or
“(2) subjects an individual to extrajudicial killing shall, in a civil action, be liable for damages to the individual‘s legal representative, or to any person who may be a claimant in an action for wrongful death.” § 2(a).
The Act defines “torture” and “extrajudicial killing,” § 3, and imposes a statute of limitations and an exhaustion requirement, §§ 2(b), (c). It does not define “individual.”
Petitioners concede that foreign states may not be sued under the Act—namely, that the Act does not create an exception to the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act of 1976,
A
Because the TVPA does not define the term “individual,” we look first to the word‘s ordinary meaning. See FCC v. AT&T Inc., 562 U. S. 397, 403 (2011) (“When a statute does not define a term, we typically give the phrase its ordinary meaning” (internal quotation marks omitted)). As a noun, “individual” ordinarily means “[a] human being, a person.” 7 Oxford English Dictionary 880 (2d ed. 1989); see also, e. g., Random House Dictionary of the English Language 974 (2d ed. 1987) (“a person“); Webster‘s Third New International Dictionary 1152 (1986) (hereinafter Webster‘s) (“a particular person“). After all, that is how we use the word in everyday parlance. We say “the individual went to the store,” “the individual left the room,” and “the individual took the car,” each time referring unmistakably to a natural person. And no one, we hazard to guess, refers in normal parlance to an organization as an “individual.” Evidencing that common usage, this Court routinely uses “individual” to denote a natural person, and in particular to distinguish between a natural person and a corporation. See, e. g., Goodyear Dunlop Tires Operations, S. A. v. Brown, 564 U. S. 915, 924 (2011) (“For an individual, the paradigm forum for the exercise of general jurisdiction is the individual‘s domicile; for a corporation, it is an equivalent place, one in which the corporation is fairly regarded as at home“).
Congress does not, in the ordinary course, employ the word any differently. The Dictionary Act instructs that “[i]n determining the meaning of any Act of Congress, unless the context indicates otherwise . . . the wor[d] ‘person’ . . . include[s] corporations, companies, associations, firms, partnerships, societies, and joint stock companies, as well as individuals.”
B
This is not to say that the word “individual” invariably means “natural person” when used in a statute. Congress remains free, as always, to give the word a broader or different meaning. But before we will assume it has done so, there must be some indication Congress intended such a result. Perhaps it is the rare statute (petitioners point to only one such example, located in the Internal Revenue Code) in which Congress expressly defines “individual” to include corporate entities. See
There are no such indications in the TVPA. As noted, the Act does not define “individual,” much less do so in a manner that extends the term beyond its ordinary usage. And the statutory context strengthens—not undermines—the conclusion that Congress intended to create a cause of action against natural persons alone. The Act‘s liability provision
It is also revealing that the Act holds perpetrators liable for extrajudicial killing to “any person who may be a claimant in an action for wrongful death.” § 2(a)(2) (emphasis added). “Person,” we have recognized, often has a broader meaning in the law than “individual,” see Clinton, 524 U. S., at 428, n. 13, and frequently includes nonnatural persons, see, e. g.,
In sum, the text of the statute persuades us that the Act authorizes liability solely against natural persons.
III
Petitioners’ counterarguments are unpersuasive.
Petitioners first dispute that the plain text of the TVPA requires today‘s result. Although they concede that an ordinary meaning of “individual” is “human being,” petitioners point to definitions of “individual” that “frame the term . . . in distinctly non-human terms, instead placing their emphases on the oneness of something.” Brief for Petitioners 18 (citing, e. g., Webster‘s 1152 (defining “individual” as “a single or particular being or thing or group of being or things“)). Those definitions, however, do not account even for petitioners’ preferred interpretation of “individual” in the Act, for foreign states—which petitioners concede are not liable under the Act—do not differ from nonsovereign organizations in their degree of “oneness.” Moreover, “[w]ords that can have more than one meaning are given content . . . by their surroundings,” Whitman v. American Trucking Assns., Inc., 531 U. S. 457, 466 (2001), and for the reasons explained supra, petitioners’ definition makes for an awkward fit in the context of the TVPA.
Petitioners next claim that federal tort statutes uniformly provide for liability against organizations, a convention they maintain is common to the legal systems of other nations. We are not convinced, however, that any such “domestic and international presumption of organizational liability” in tort actions overcomes the ordinary meaning of “individual.” Brief for Petitioners 16. It is true that “Congress is understood to legislate against a background of common-law adjudicatory principles.” Astoria Fed. Sav. & Loan Assn. v. Solimino, 501 U. S. 104, 108 (1991). But Congress plainly can override those principles, see, e. g., id., at 108–109, and, as explained supra, the TVPA‘s text evinces a clear intent not to subject nonsovereign organizations to liability.4
B
Petitioners also contend that legislative history supports their broad reading of “individual.” But “reliance on legislative history is unnecessary in light of the statute‘s unambiguous language.” Milavetz, Gallop & Milavetz, P. A. v.
Indeed, although we need not rely on legislative history given the text‘s clarity, we note that the history only supports our interpretation of “individual.” The version of the TVPA that was introduced in the 100th Congress established liability against a “person.” Hearing and Markup on H. R. 1417 before the House Committee on Foreign Affairs and Its Subcommittee on Human Rights and International Organizations, 100th Cong., 2d Sess., 82 (1988). During the markup session of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, one of the bill‘s sponsors proposed an amendment “to make it clear we are applying it to individuals and not to corporations.” Id., at 81, 87. Counsel explained that it was a “fairly simple” matter “of changing the word, ‘person’ to ‘individuals’ in several places in the bill.” Id., at 87–88. The amendment was unanimously adopted, and the version of the bill reported out of Committee reflected the change. Id., at 88; H. R. Rep.
C
Petitioners’ final argument is that the Act would be rendered toothless by a construction of “individual” that limits liability to natural persons. They contend that precluding organizational liability may foreclose effective remedies for victims and their relatives for any number of reasons. Victims may be unable to identify the men and women who subjected them to torture, all the while knowing the organization for whom they work. Personal jurisdiction may be more easily established over corporate than human beings. And natural persons may be more likely than organizations to be judgment proof. Indeed, we are told that only two TVPA plaintiffs have been able to recover successfully against a natural person—one only after the defendant won the state lottery. See Jean v. Dorélien, 431 F. 3d 776, 778 (CA11 2005).
We acknowledge petitioners’ concerns about the limitations on recovery. But they are ones that Congress imposed and that we must respect. “[N]o legislation pursues its purposes at all costs,” Rodriguez v. United States, 480 U. S. 522, 525–526 (1987) (per curiam), and petitioners’ purposive argument simply cannot overcome the force of the plain text. We add only that Congress appeared well aware of the limited nature of the cause of action it established in the Act. See, e. g., 138 Cong. Rec. 4177 (1992) (remarks of Sen. Simpson) (noting that “as a practical matter, this legislation will result in a very small number of cases“); 137 Cong. Rec. 2671 (1991) (remarks of Sen. Specter) (“Let me emphasize that
*
The text of the TVPA convinces us that Congress did not extend liability to organizations, sovereign or not. There are no doubt valid arguments for such an extension. But Congress has seen fit to proceed in more modest steps in the Act, and it is not the province of this branch to do otherwise. The judgment of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit is affirmed.
It is so ordered.
JUSTICE BREYER, concurring.
I join the Court‘s opinion with one qualification. The word “individual” is open to multiple interpretations, permitting it, linguistically speaking, to include natural persons, corporations, and other entities. Thus, I do not believe that word alone is sufficient to decide this case.
The legislative history of the statute, however, makes up for whatever interpretive inadequacies remain after considering language alone. See, e. g., ante, at 459 (describing markup session in which one of the bill‘s sponsors proposed an amendment containing the word “individual” to ” ‘make it clear’ that the statute applied to ‘individuals and not to corporations’ “); Hearing on S. 1629 et al. before the Subcommittee on Immigration and Refugee Affairs of the Senate Committee on the Judiciary, 101st Cong., 2d Sess., 65 (1990) (witness explaining to Committee that there would be a “problem” with suing an “independent entity or a series of entities that are not governments,” such as the Palestine Liberation Organization); id., at 75 (allaying concerns that there will be a flood of lawsuits “because of the requirement [in the statute] that an individual has to identify his or her precise torture[r] and they have to be both in the United States“); see also ante, at 458–459 (making clear that peti-
Notes
Briefs of amici curiae were filed for the American Petroleum Institute et al. by Peter B. Rutledge; for KBR, Inc., by David B. Rivkin, Jr., and Lee A. Casey; for Omer Bartov et al. by Jennifer Green, Judith Brown Chomsky, and Beth Stephens; for Juan Romagoza Arce et al. by Andrea C. Evans, Pamela M. Merchant, Natasha E. Fain, and L. Kathleen Roberts; and for Larry Bowoto et al. by Marco Simons, Richard Herz, Theresa Traber, Bert Voorhees, Lauren Teukolsky, Dan Stormer, Cindy A. Cohn, Mr. DiCaprio, Michael S. Sorgen, Ms. Chomsky, and Richard R. Wiebe.