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Vale faces a £3bn lawsuit in the Netherlands from 77,000 claimants over the 2015 Mariana dam collapse in Brazil, opening a new front in legal action against the mining group and its project partner BHP over one of the country’s worst environmental disasters.
A huge class action representing 700,000 claimants is already being pursued in the UK against BHP after the rupture of the Fundão mining waste dam near Mariana, south-east Brazil, killed 19 people and polluted hundreds of kilometres of waterways.
The Dutch case is being brought by law firms Pogust Goodhead and Lemstra Van der Korst against Vale Holdings BV, the main holding company of the Brazilian miner, and Samarco Iron Ore Europe, a marketing arm of the Samarco joint venture between Vale and BHP that operated the dam.
Pogust Goodhead, which is also involved in the UK case, said that preliminary work indicated it would request compensation of more than £3bn in the Dutch case for claimants including 77,000 individuals, almost 1,000 businesses and seven municipalities.
“The class action was launched in 2018 in England. The victims have been trying for justice in Brazil for eight-and-a-half years,” said Tom Goodhead, chief executive of Pogust Goodhead. “We have now brought a case in the Netherlands against Vale for the victims that haven’t had the opportunity to join the case in London.”
As part of the Dutch claim, Pogust Goodhead said that it has secured an “asset attachment” over shares in Amsterdam-based Vale Holdings BV owned by its Brazilian parent, preventing the subsidiary from paying dividends or selling shares until a final ruling.
In February 2023, Vale Holdings BV made a “dividend distribution in kind” to Vale in the form of $1.5bn of share buybacks. Pogust Goodhead believes this kind of transaction will be blocked by the asset attachment.
Vale said it “remains committed to supporting the full reparation of the damages caused by the Fundão dam collapse”.
Under an initial deal with Brazilian authorities, BHP and Vale agreed to fund the Renova Foundation, a non-profit organisation set up to provide compensation to affected communities. It has so far distributed about R$35.5bn ($7bn).
The UK legal case, the country’s largest-ever class action, is due to start in October. BHP has requested that Vale also be found liable for any resulting damages. A decision about Vale’s liability is expected around the time of the main ruling.
In January, Samarco, Vale and BHP were ordered by a Brazilian court to pay R$47.6bn in compensation for the dam collapse. Vale and BHP have both said they would consider appealing.
Pogust Goodhead, which is funded by US investment manager Gramercy and Brazilian investment firms Prisma Capital, Vinci Partners and Jive Investments, stands to win 6 per cent of individual damages and 20 per cent from municipalities if the Dutch case succeeds.
In the UK case, Pogust Goodhead and the Brazilian law firms that have brought the case stand to earn as much as 30 per cent of the settlement if their case is successful.
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