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The
claim, one of the largest in English legal history, seeks to
hold BHP to account for the disaster in English courts,
emulating lawsuits brought in London against miner Vedanta and
oil giant Shell by villagers over alleged pollution in Zambia
and oil spills in the Niger delta respectively.
The Vedanta case has since settled.
The collapse of the Fundao dam, owned by the Samarco venture
between BHP and Brazilian iron ore mining giant Vale, ranks as
Brazil's worst environmental disaster.
Nineteen were killed and villages obliterated as a torrent of
more than 40 million cubic metres of mining waste swept into the
Doce river and Atlantic Ocean over 650 km (400 miles) away.
Tom Goodhead, a managing partner at law firm PGMBM, which is
bringing the claim on behalf of individuals - including
indigenous people - businesses, churches, organisations and
municipalities, told Reuters the team was "very confident".
About 120,000 claimants had been to walk-in centres in Brazil to
update their details in recent months, he said, and another
potential 100,000 new clients wanted to join.
BHP, the world's largest mining company by market value, has
labelled the case pointless and wasteful, saying it duplicates
proceedings in Brazil and the work of the Renova Foundation, an
entity created by the company and its Brazilian partners to
manage reparations and repairs.
The company says it is fully committed to "doing the right
thing" and has paid nearly 9 billion reais ($1.89 billion) in
compensation and direct financial aid to over 360,000 people and
will have spent roughly 30 billion reais on reparation and
compensation programmes by year-end.
Claimant lawyers argue that most clients have not brought
proceedings in Brazil or sought compensation that excludes them
from English proceedings and that Brazilian litigation is so
lengthy it cannot provide full redress in a realistic timeframe.
But Goodhead conceded the case had been a rollercoaster.
It was blocked by the English High Court in 2020 and, one year
later, by the Court of Appeal, which initially agreed it would
be "irredeemably unmanageable".
But after a last-ditch oral hearing, Court of Appeal judges last
July made a rare U-turn, stating the case had a "real prospect
of success".
The five-day hearing, which begins on Monday, will help
establish whether the case can be heard in Britain, although the
judgment is expected to be reserved - and the case could be
appealed to the Supreme Court.
Further trials will determine liability and quantify damages in
the absence of any settlement.
($1 = 0.7623 pounds)
($1 = 4.7704 reais)
(Reporting by Kirstin Ridley;Editing by Elaine Hardcastle)
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