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UK Supreme Court to hear Nigerians' case for pursuing Shell spill claim in England

Published 24/07/2019, 11:58
UK Supreme Court to hear Nigerians' case for pursuing Shell spill claim in England
SHEL
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VDAN
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ABUJA, July 24 (Reuters) - The Supreme Court in London will
hear an appeal by Nigerian farmers and fishermen to pursue
claims in England against oil major Shell RDSa.L over oil
spills in the Niger Delta, lawyers for the two affected
communities said on Wednesday.
The decision to hear the appeal re-opens the possibility for
British multinationals to be held liable at home for their
subsidiaries' actions abroad. It comes after a setback in
February last year when a London court ruled that the claim
could not be pursued in England.
"The decision will allow the two communities from Bille and
Ogale in the Niger Delta to appeal to the UK's highest court,
having suffered from decades of pollution from Shell's
pipelines," Leigh Day, the law firm representing the
communities, said in a statement.
The main question for the courts is whether they have
jurisdiction over claims against Shell's Nigerian subsidiary
Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC), which is jointly
operated with the Nigerian government.
"We maintain that claims by Nigerian communities against a
Nigerian company about events in Nigeria, should be heard in
Nigeria and not the UK," said an SPDC spokeswoman.
SPDC maintains the spills are chiefly due to oil theft,
sabotage and illegal refining.
But the communities maintain they cannot seek redress
locally.
"The English courts are our only hope because we cannot get
justice in Nigeria," said King Okpabi, the ruler of the Ogale
community, in Wednesday's statement.
Ruling on a similar case in April, London's Supreme Court
decided that Zambian villagers had the right to sue India-listed
mining company Vedanta VDAN.NS in England.

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