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(Alliance News) - A "very significant" number of people may join what is already thought to be one of the largest claims in English legal history in a case against mining company BHP Group Ltd over a deadly dam collapse in Brazil.
Lawyers representing around 200,000 Brazilians are bringing a multibillion-pound legal action against BHP Group following the collapse of the Fundao dam in November 2015.
The failure of the dam, which held waste from an iron ore mine in Minas Gerais state in south-eastern Brazil, killed 19 people and sent more than 40 million cubic metres of toxic waste into the Doce River.
The fallout led to what has been dubbed Brazil's worst environmental disaster, contaminating drinking water for hundreds of thousands of people and obliterating entire villages, with pollution eventually found more than 400 miles away.
Lawyers representing the hundreds of thousands of individuals – as well as businesses, municipal governments, members of the Krenak indigenous tribe and faith-based organisations – claim that BHP was liable for the collapse of the dam, which is owned and operated by Samarco, a joint venture between Brazilian iron ore miner Vale SA and BHP's Brazilian subsidiary.
At a preliminary hearing in London on Tuesday, lawyers for the group of claimants said that more people were likely to join the case.
Their barrister Alain Choo-Choy KC, in written submissions, said that solicitors had received instructions from "a very significant number of prospective claimants", with all new claims set to be filed by February 2023.
Choo-Choy later asked for a "first stage trial" to determine whether or not the mining giant was liable.
He continued: "Having regard to the fact that it is already more than four years since these proceedings were commenced and more than seven years since the collapse, there are compelling reasons for doing so, to avoid further unnecessary delay."
The barrister added that setting a date now could mean that the first stage of the trial takes place in spring 2024.
BHP, which filed its defence to the legal action earlier this month, denies the claims in their entirety.
In written submissions, Charles Gibson KC, for BHP, said that tens of thousands of people had been named on claim forms, but later stages of their claims had not progressed.
"There is continuing uncertainty about the number and identity of such claimants and whether they wish to continue with their claims," he said.
Gibson told the High Court that the proposal for a preliminary trial on liability was "premature".
"The timetable – proposing that one of the largest group actions in English history could be ready for a six to eight-week trial in just over 12 months – is wholly unrealistic," he continued.
In November 2020, a High Court judge ruled that the claim was a "clear abuse of process" which should be thrown out of court.
However, in July 2022 the Court of Appeal overturned this decision, ruling that there was a "realistic prospect of a trial yielding a real and legitimate advantage for the claimants".
BHP has applied to challenge this decision at the Supreme Court, where a decision is pending.
The hearing before Justice O'Farrell is due to finish on Wednesday.
By Jess Glass, PA
Press Association: Finance
source: PA
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