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Nigerians trying to sue Shell over offshore spill
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Supreme Court rules legal action launched too late
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Court had ruled against Shell in other Nigeria case
(Adds comment from Shell in paragraphs 10-11)
By Estelle Shirbon
LONDON, May 10 (Reuters) - The UK Supreme Court ruled on
Wednesday that it was too late for Nigerian claimants to sue two
Shell subsidiaries over a 2011 offshore oil spill they
say had a devastating long-term impact on the coastal area where
they live.
The case was one of a series of legal battles Shell has been
fighting in London courts against residents of Nigeria's
oil-producing Niger Delta, a region blighted by pollution,
conflict and corruption related to the oil and gas industry.
The action stemmed from the leakage of an estimated 40,000
barrels of crude oil on Dec. 20, 2011, during the loading of an
oil tanker at Shell's giant Bonga oil field, 120 km off the
coast of the delta.
A group of 27,800 individuals and 457 communities have been
trying to sue Shell, saying the resulting oil slick polluted
their lands and waterways, damaging farming, fishing, drinking
water, mangrove forests and religious shrines.
But a panel of five Supreme Court justices unanimously
upheld rulings by two lower courts that found they had brought
their case after the expiry of a six-year legal deadline for
taking action.
The claimants' lawyers had argued that the ongoing
consequences of the pollution represented a "continuing
nuisance", a type of civil tort, which would have meant the
deadline did not apply.
"The Supreme Court rejects the claimants' submission. There
was no continuing nuisance in this case," said justice Andrew
Burrows, delivering the ruling.
Shell had disputed the claimants' allegations, saying the
Bonga spill did not impact the shoreline. The court did not rule
on the disputed facts as it was seeking only to decide the legal
point about nuisance.
Just two Nigerian citizens were appellants in the Supreme
Court case, but the ruling will also apply to the thousands of
other claimants.
Shell said the Supreme Court ruling had brought to an end
all legal claims in English courts related to the spill.
"While the 2011 Bonga spill was highly regrettable, it was
swiftly contained and cleaned up offshore," a Shell spokesperson
said.
A lawyer for the Nigerian appellants did not immediately
respond to an email requesting comment.
The Supreme Court has previously ruled against Shell in
another case involving pollution in the Niger Delta. In February
2021, it allowed a group of 42,500 farmers and fishermen from
the Ogale and Bille communities to sue Shell over spills, and
that case is currently going through the High Court.
In a separate case, Shell agreed in 2015 after a protracted
legal battle in London to pay out 55 million pounds ($70
million) to the delta's Bodo community in compensation for two
spills.
($1 = 0.7923 pounds)
(Reporting by Estelle Shirbon
Editing by Alexander Winning and Christina Fincher)
