LONDON – The UK Supreme Court said Friday that a group of about 50,000 Nigerian farmers and fishermen could bring a case to the London Supreme Court against Royal Dutch Shell over years of oil spills in the Niger Delta that have polluted their land, wells and waterways.
The judges said there was the potential that a parent company like Shell, which has its headquarters in the Netherlands but has a large UK presence, is responsible for the activities of subsidiaries such as the Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria, which operates in the delta area.
The court dismissed a lower court that had said no case would be brought against Shell in Britain. On Friday, jurors said there was “a real problem that should be tried”.
The ruling is “a turning point in the accountability of multinational companies,” said Daniel Leader, a partner at UK law firm Leigh Day who led the legal team representing Nigerian communities.
Mr Leader added that the judgment would most likely enhance the ability of “impoverished communities” to hold powerful corporations to account. Indeed, courts in Western countries have recently indicated that they are increasingly open to such cases. Last month, a court in the Netherlands ruled that Shell was liable for pollution in another case involving Nigerian farmers.
The Ogale and Bille peoples who are taking the case in Britain say their lives have been damaged by years of damage from oil spills from pipelines operated by Shell. Mr Leader said they would file their claims in Britain because the prospects of success in the Nigerian courts were distant as few lawyers would take a case and local potentates would be able to claim money from a verdict. He said that the local population had no access to legal representation and that if they took a case, it would most likely take decades to reach a conclusion.
“Everyone will be dead by then,” said Mr. Leader.
Shell routinely blames sabotage and criminal activity. According to Shell, Nigerian law requires that compensation be paid for spills caused by operational problems, but not for damage caused by sabotage.
“The spills in question took place in communities badly affected by oil theft, illegal oil refining and pipeline sabotage,” a company spokeswoman said in an email Friday.
Mr Leader said that a case would now likely be brought against Shell in Britain, although he suggested there would be more room for legal maneuvers by the oil company on jurisdiction. Unless Shell settles, the case will likely go on for another two or three years, he said. He declined to give an estimate of the damage the Nigerian plaintiffs could claim, saying the main problem is forcing Shell to clean up the spills, which he said Shell had not done.
“These communities are chronically polluted; it affects every aspect of their daily life, ”he said.
Shell said the company’s subsidiary in Nigeria was cleaning up the mess “regardless of the cause.”
The company is also gradually selling its properties in the delta and prefers to drill offshore, away from where people live.