Today (8) the Court of Appeal of the United Kingdom decided that the English court will rule on a class-action lawsuit brought by the law firm representing about 200,000 people affected by the collapse of the Fundão dam, which occurred in Mariana (MG), in 2015 in the disaster 19 people died.
The lawsuit was filed in 2018 by the PGMBM office, which is seeking compensation from Anglo-Australian mining company BHP, a Samarco shareholder, owner of the dam.
The lawyers contend that the Brazilian legal system has not been able to guarantee adequate compensation. This argument, which was refuted by BHP Billiton, was not accepted in the lower court’s ruling. The claim was deemed “abuse of procedure” by Judge Mark Turner of Manchester Civil Court, with the case still pending. In November 2020, the judge recognized that there was a risk of irreconcilable sentences, with simultaneous trials in Brazil and the UK.
The office then made an extraordinary appeal, and the London Court of Appeal accepted an application to reopen the proceedings.
At the beginning of the year, the Renova Foundation, which is managed by Samarco, announced that compensation and emergency financial aid paid for damages from the breach amounted to more than R$8.7 billion by the end of last year. answered About 363.5 thousand people.
In a note sent to Brazil agencyThe mining company said it was committed to repairing the damage.
“Samarco reaffirms its commitment to repair damages and to the Terms of Transaction and Adjustment of Conduct (TTAC) signed in March 2016 by Samarco and its shareholders, Vale, BHP, the federal governments, Minas Gerais, Espirito Santo Santo and other entities. To date, with the support of shareholders, more has already been compensated,” the company said. of 376,700 people, with more than R$21.8 billion allocated to the actions implemented by the Renova Foundation.
In a note, BHP Billiton said it is considering the possibility of applying for leave to appeal to the UK Supreme Court. The miner claims it is committed to reparations and maintains that the lawsuit, filed in the UK, replicates issues already covered by Renova’s work and ongoing legal proceedings in Brazil. “So far, R$21.8 billion has been disbursed in repair and compensation programs implemented by the Renova Foundation,” the text adds.
The article was updated at 8pm on 07/11/2022 to add the BHP Billiton website.
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