UK High Court judge rejects calls to strike out contempt application in Mariana tailings dam case
Mr Justice Constable has rejected BHP’s request to strike out the criminal contempt application filed by the Municipality Claimants.
The Municipality Claimants have filed the application against BHP with claims they interfered with the proper administration of justice in the Mariana v BHP case being heard in the English Courts.
Brazilian municipalities filed the application on 7 October 2024 after it was found that BHP made partial disclosures on 'the true extent of their funding obligations' to the Brazilian Mining Association (IBRAM).
A statement from law firm Pogus Goodhead outlines how 'BHP was facing an injunction application brought by the Municipality Claimants after secretly procuring that IBRAM file a constitutional challenge in the highest Brazilian court (ADPF) to stop municipalities from bringing claims in jurisdictions outside Brazil, known as the ‘IBRAM Claim’.
'If the relief sought by IBRAM is granted by the Brazilian Court, this could ultimately force the 31 municipalities affected by the worst environmental disaster in Brazil in 2015 to abandon their claims in the Mariana v BHP case, which have been progressing since 2018 and leave them with no other avenue for compensation than in Brazil.'
The High Court Judge, Mr Justice Constable, stated, ‘There are reasonable grounds to argue that BHP’s strategy in procuring and funding the (unstoppable) IBRAM Claim, together with interim relief seeking to block access between the Municipality Claimants and their lawyers, was specifically designed with the purpose, as alleged, of interfering with the administration of justice in these Courts.’
As such, Justice Constable stressed the importance of protecting the right of the Municipalities Claimants to have access to justice in England following the Court's 2023 jurisdictional ruling that England was the correct forum for the dispute regarding the collapse of the Fundão Dam.
If found guilty of contempt of court by breaching the Municipality Claimants' right to a fair trial and obstructing the due course of justice, the BHP companies could be facing unlimited fines.
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