UK suit against BHP over 2015 Brazil dam failure hits wall

A vast, 200,000-strong Brazilian claimant group failed to revive a $6.9bn United Kingdom lawsuit against Anglo-Australian mining giant BHP relating to Brazil’s worst environmental disaster.

A 200,000-strong Brazilian claimant group said on Wednesday that it had failed to resurrect a 5 billion pound ($6.9bn) British 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.