UK Judge Finds BHP Group Liable in Historic Brazilian Dam Disaster, Paving Way for Massive Lawsuit

LONDON – A British judge has ruled that global mining giant BHP Group is liable for Brazil’s worst environmental disaster, a landmark decision that opens the door to one of the largest corporate compensation claims in history, valued by claimants’ lawyers at up to £36 billion ($48 billion).

The case stems from the catastrophic collapse of the Fundão tailings dam on November 5, 2015. The failure unleashed a tsunami of approximately 40 million cubic meters of toxic mining waste—enough to fill 13,000 Olympic-sized swimming pools—from the Samarco iron ore mine into the Doce River in southeastern Brazil.

A Decade of Devastation

The mudslide instantly destroyed the village of Bento Rodrigues in Minas Gerais state, killing 19 people. It devastated towns downstream, leaving thousands homeless and inundating vast areas of fertile land and protected Atlantic forest. According to a study by the University of Ulster, the disaster killed 14 tonnes of freshwater fish and polluted 600 kilometers (370 miles) of the Doce River, a waterway the Krenak Indigenous people revere as a deity. A decade later, the river ecosystem has yet to recover.

In her ruling on Friday, High Court Justice Finola O’Farrell found that the “direct and immediate cause” of the dam’s collapse was the decision to continue raising its height despite clear safety risks. She determined that BHP, as a 50% owner of Samarco, the Brazilian company operating the mine, was therefore liable under Brazilian law.

A Landmark Legal Battle

The lawsuit was brought in the UK by over 700,000 Brazilian individuals, businesses, and organizations because one of BHP’s two main legal entities was based in London at the time of the collapse. This legal strategy allows claimants to seek justice in the home jurisdiction of a multinational corporation.

“This ruling is a monumental victory for the victims and a stark warning to multinational corporations,” said a representative for the claimants’ legal team. “It establishes that parent companies can be held accountable for the actions of their subsidiaries abroad, and that they cannot hide from justice by pointing to parallel proceedings in other countries.”

BHP has vowed to appeal the decision. In a statement, BHP’s President Minerals Americas, Brandon Craig, argued that the UK lawsuit is “unnecessary” because it duplicates a existing compensation program in Brazil. He noted that 240,000 claimants in the London lawsuit “have already been paid compensation in Brazil.”

Contrasting Compensation Schemes

The ruling comes just months after the Brazilian federal government reached a separate, massive settlement with the mining companies involved. Under that agreement, Samarco—jointly owned by BHP and Brazilian giant Vale—agreed to pay 132 billion reais ($23 billion) over 20 years to compensate for human, environmental, and infrastructure damage.

However, claimants in the UK case argue that the Brazilian settlement is insufficient, slow-moving, and excludes many of the profound and long-term impacts suffered by individuals and communities. The UK lawsuit seeks a different, and potentially much larger, form of redress directly from BHP.

A Global Precedent

The case is being closely watched by the global mining industry and corporate accountability advocates. As Al Jazeera’s Monica Yanakiew reported from Rio de Janeiro, “They say this sets a precedent for how multinational corporations operate from now on—that they can be held liable for environmental and human catastrophes even if their operations are in other countries.”

While BHP’s appeal means the final chapter of this legal saga is yet to be written, the ruling represents a significant step for the victims in their decade-long fight for justice and signals a potential shift in the legal landscape governing corporate responsibility across borders.

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