When I read the title of that act, I picture foreigners suign a US party in a US court because the US court would have jurisdiction. Foreigners suing other foreigners in the US over an event in a foreign country makes no sense. Or did I mis-read the case entirely?
Good question. The issue is whether ‘Alien’ refers to the offshore tort, the plaintiff or the defendant. Certainly the tort takes place offshore under the ATCA. In 1991 congress resolved the vagueness of the wording by saying both Americans and aliens can be plaintiffs, there should be at least one American defendant and there can also be alien defendants. In these four cases referenced in the article, there are both Americans and aliens named both as plaintiffs and as defendants.