Future Of British Business
BHP Risks £36 Billion Bill in UK Lawsuit Over Dam Collapse
- Suit grows to include 500,000 more victims of dam disaster
- Possible compensation is now calculated at about £36 billion
Damage following the Fundao Dam burst in Mariana, Minas Gerais state, Brazil, in 2015.
Photographer: Christophe Simon/AFP/Getty ImagesThis article is for subscribers only.
BHP Group Ltd. may face a £36 billion ($44 billion) compensation payout if it loses a London class action lawsuit over its role in the deadly collapse of a Brazilian dam.
Pogust Goodhead, the lawyers behind the so-called opt-in class action suit, said the newly calculated damages bill has soared after an additional 500,000 claimants joined the case. It’s the world’s largest case of its kind with total claimants now exceeding 700,000, plus 46 Brazilian municipalities, businesses and indigenous people, they said.