BHP Billiton facing L5bn lawsuit from Brazilian victims of dam disaster
Source: The Guardian
BHP Billiton facing £5bn lawsuit from Brazilian victims of dam disaster
Action launched in Liverpool against Anglo-Australian mining company after 2015 tragedy that killed 19 people
Jonathan Watts Global environment editor
Tue 6 Nov 2018 18.50 GMT
The worst environmental disaster in Brazil’s history has triggered one of the biggest legal claims ever filed in a British court.
The Anglo-Australian mining company BHP Billiton is being sued for about £5bn by Brazilian victims of the Samarco dam collapse in Mariana three years ago.
The class action case was filed in the Liverpool high court on Monday by the UK-based SPG Law on behalf of 240,000 individuals, 24 municipal governments, 11,000 businesses, a Catholic archdiocese and the Krenak indigenous community.
Nineteen people died after toxic waters from the failed tailings dam surged through the village of Bento Rodrigues on 5 November 2015. The sludge destroyed hundreds of homes, devastated fisheries, contaminated forests and left hundreds of thousands of dwellers along the Doce River without drinking water.
It emerged that the company had accurately predicted the risks in a worst-case assessment made six months earlier. ...
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Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/nov/06/bhp-billiton-facing-5bn-lawsuit-from-brazilian-victims-of-dam-disaster