Descendants of black American slaves have accused Lloyds of London and two US companies of genocide in a lawsuit seeking billions of dollars in damages.
The suit, filed in Manhattan federal court, seeks $2 billion (€41.6 billion) in punitive damages from London's Society of Lloyd's, R.J. Reynolds Tobacco, and FleetBoston Financial Corp. The action also seeks unspecified actual damages.
Filed on behalf of six adults and two minors, the suit alleges the companies intentionally sought to destroy the plaintiffs' "people, culture, religion and heritage".
The plaintiffs say their ancestors were transported from African nations as part of the slave trade from 1619 to 1865. They allege that Lloyds insured slave ships, while FleetBoston, then called Rhode Island's Providence Bank, financed the ships in the slave trade. R.J. Reynolds, the suit states, profited from plantations.
The companies profited from ethnic cleansing, rape, forced breeding, kidnapping and murder that violate UN declarations and international law and are defined as genocide, according to the court papers.
R.J. Reynolds spokeswoman Ellen Matthews said the firm had not yet seen the complaint but added "currently we are not aware of any legal precedent or even a legal theory that would allow these cases to proceed to trial".
A Lloyds spokeswoman in London said that it had not seen the claim and was not in a position to comment. But she added that previous claims regarding slavery had been dismissed.