* Court of Appeal refuses permission to appeal
* "Sad day for English justice system"-claimant lawyer
* Dam collapse caused Brazil's worst environmental disaster
* BHP committed to "doing the right thing" for victims
(Adds BHP comment, details)
By Kirstin Ridley
LONDON, March 24 (Reuters) - A 200,000-strong Brazilian
claimant group said on Wednesday it had failed to resurrect a
5.0 billion pound ($6.9 billion) English lawsuit against
Anglo-Australian mining giant BHP over a
devastating 2015 dam failure.
The Court of Appeal agreed with a lower court that the vast
group action was an abuse of process, that claimants were
already able to seek redress in Brazil and that the case would
be "irredeemably unmanageable" if allowed to proceed.
Tom Goodhead, the PGMBM lawyer representing the claimants,
said it was "a sad day for the English justice system" after
senior judges agreed that the claim, relating to Brazil's worst
environmental disaster, should be struck out.
The collapse of the Fundao dam, owned by the Samarco venture
between BHP and Brazilian iron ore mining giant Vale,
killed 19 and sent a flood of mining waste into communities, the
Doce river and the Atlantic Ocean, 650 km (400 miles) away.
The landmark case was the latest battle to establish whether
multinationals can be held liable for the conduct of
subsidiaries abroad.
The UK Supreme Court in 2019 allowed Zambian villagers to
sue miner Vedanta in England for alleged pollution in Africa and
in February permitted Nigerian farmers and fishermen to pursue
Royal Dutch Shell over oil spills in the Niger Delta.
But the English claim against BHP was first struck out in
November after a High Court judge ruled that allowing it to
proceed here would be like "trying to build a house of cards in
a wind tunnel".
Goodhead said he was surprised and disappointed by the Court
of Appeal decision, which sent "a poor message about corporate
responsibility and legal consequences for wrongdoing".
"We are committed to supporting the victims of this tragedy.
We will now take stock and assess our options as to how justice
can best be achieved," he said.
BHP welcomed the decision, which it said reinforced its view
that the proceedings duplicated existing and ongoing remediation
efforts and legal proceedings in Brazil. It said it remained
fully committed to doing "the right thing" for victims.
BHP says it and Vale each poured about $1.7 billion into the
Renova Foundation, set up in 2016 by BHP's Brazilian division,
Samarco and Vale to manage 42 reparation projects, including
providing financial aid to indigenous families, rebuilding
villages and establishing new water supply systems.
BHP said Renova has spent nearly 12 billion reais ($2.17
billion) across the projects to date.
A United Nations expert report, published in September, said
the disaster decimated the livelihoods of more than three
million people, leaving locals exposed to dust and heavy metals
in mud, that information about toxicity was inadequate and that
all reparation projects were behind schedule.
In October, Brazilian federal prosecutors filed a lawsuit
against BHP and Vale, alleging compensation packages were too
low and forced victims to waive rights in other legal
proceedings.
Renova has insisted that projects such as water quality
monitoring and environmental repairs are on track, while the
miners reject allegations they are not complying with
obligations and of wrongdoing.
($1 = 0.7284 pounds)
($1 = 5.5210 reais)
(Reporting by Kirstin Ridley; Editing by Edmund Blair)
