Law firm ‘doubling up’ on dam victims: BHP

More than 200,000 claimants suing BHP in a $17bn lawsuit have already been compensated for damage caused amid the Mariana dam disaster, the Australian mining giant will tell a London court.

Aerial view taken on November 6, 2015, shows the village of Bento Rodrigues following the bursting of a dam, at a mining waste site, of the company Samarco, jointly owned by Vale of Brazil and BHP, unleashing a deluge of thick, red toxic mud.

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More than 200,000 claimants suing BHP in a $17bn lawsuit have been compensated for damage caused in the wake of the Mariana dam disaster, the Australian mining giant will tell a London court.

BHP lawyers fronting the high court trial from Monday will argue class action law firm Pogust Goodhead is doubling up on claimants who have already been paid through BHP and Vale’s ­efforts on the ground in Brazil.

This comes as the mining giant reaches the final stages of a possible $44.5bn settlement with Brazilian authorities, which could see hundreds of thousands more claimants involved in the British trial compensated locally.

Pogust Goodhead founder Tom Goodhead said the miner’s claims of compensating victims had “repeatedly been exposed as disingenuous” and he was adamant the UK case – widely touted as the largest class action in history – is “critical” to achieving justice for those impacted by the dam collapse.

The British case centres on the failure of the tailings dam at an iron ore mine owned by the BHP-Vale joint venture Samarco almost nine years ago that killed 19 people, left hundreds homeless and had a disastrous impact on forests and the river systems.

About 620,000 individuals, 46 municipalities, 2000 businesses and 65 faith-based establishments are to claim damages from BHP at the liability trial, which is due to begin on Monday.

The Australian understands BHP’s defence will hinge on claims that hundreds of thousands of individuals have already received compensation through the Renova Foundation, which was set up by BHP and Vale following the disaster.

The company says Renova has disbursed more than $11.5bn in repair and compensation actions, assisting about 430,000 individuals, 200,000 of which are involved in the UK claim.

The Australian last week reported BHP could next week strike a breakthrough deal with Brazilian authorities, after lobbing a new 170 billion Brazilian reais ($44.5bn) settlement over the dam collapse.

Pogust Goodhead founder Tom Goodhead.

BHP said any settlement in Brazil would not resolve the British class action, or similar legal claims in Australia and in The Netherlands. Nor would a settlement spell the end of criminal charges against Samarco, BHP Brazil, Vale and some individuals.

However, a settlement could lessen BHP and Vales’s exposure to any adverse ruling in the British case and reduce the number of claimants.

BHP chief legal, governance and external affairs officer Caroline Cox said “substantial and positive progress is being made and we have outlined the current terms of a comprehensive agreement which focuses on the needs and welfare of the people affected, including indigenous and traditional communities and the ­environment. This agreement is subject to finalisation.”

Mr Goodhead, who is based in London but is in the process of growing his firm in Sydney, told The Australian BHP’s claims “of compensating the victims of the disaster through the Renova Foundation have repeatedly been exposed as disingenuous”.

“This was glaringly brought to light at its AGM last year when its board and executive were confronted with the unavoidable truth by a group of victims who recounted their personal experience and that of their communities of the intransigence, intimi­dation and obfuscation of BHP, Renova and their representatives,” he said.

“No amount of slick and expensively produced online content can obscure the devastating on-the-ground reality of the victims’ daily lives.”

Mr Goodhead said the proposed deal “reeks of the tactics used in the UK’s post office scandal where victims were offered inadequate amounts of compen­sation. The victims have not been consulted on the deal that will take 20 years to come to fruition.”