Brazil victims of mining disaster take BHP to court in London
Al Jazeera
Victims of the worst environmental disaster in Brazil have filed a class action lawsuit seeking $47bn in damages.
Victims of Brazil’s worst environmental disaster have turned to a United Kingdom court for compensation, almost nine years after tonnes of toxic mining waste poured into a major waterway, killing 19 people and devastating local communities.
The class action lawsuit at the High Court of Justice in London on Monday seeks an estimated 36 billion pounds ($47bn) in damages from the global mining giant BHP. That would make it the largest environmental payout ever, according to Pogust Goodhead, the law firm representing the plaintiffs.
BHP owns 50 percent of Samarco, the Brazilian company that operates the iron ore mine where a tailings dam ruptured on November 5, 2015, releasing enough mine waste to fill 13,000 Olympic-size swimming pools into the Doce River in southeastern Brazil. The case was filed in the UK because one of BHP’s two main legal entities was based in London at the time.
“BHP is a polluter and must therefore pay,” lawyer Alain Choo Choy said in written submissions.
BHP lawyer Shaheed Fatima said in written submissions that the claim has “no basis”, adding that BHP did not own or operate the dam and “had limited knowledge of the dam and no knowledge that its stability was compromised”.
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