Brazil group denied permission to appeal against BHP dam ruling in UK
LONDON - England's Court of Appeal has denied permission for a 200 000-strong Brazilian claimant group to try and resurrect a 5.0-billion pound lawsuit against Anglo-Australian mining giant BHP over a 2015 dam burst.
"We are both surprised and disappointed by this decision," said Tom Goodhead, managing partner at law firm PGMBM, which is representing the claimants and had hoped to appeal a High Court decision to strike out the claim last November.
"This is a sad day for the English justice system, as the courts dismiss a case based on size and complexity. It sends a poor message about corporate responsibility and legal consequences for wrongdoing," he said.
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.
It was Brazil's worst environmental disaster.
An English appeal court judge ruled claimants could and were already making claims in Brazil, where a special compensation scheme was in place, and agreed with the High Court that the case would be "irredeemably unmanageable" if allowed to proceed further in England, PGMBM said in a statement.
BHP was not immediately available for comment.
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