The high court has ruled that tens of thousands of Nigerians affected by oil pollution cannot proceed with a legal challenge in the UK against Shell and its Nigerian subsidiary.
The ruling is a blow for campaigners who called the ruling an “outrage”. They had hoped the case would set an important precedent on jurisdiction, paving the way for other cases to be brought against UK-based corporations for their actions abroad.
The lawyers who brought the action on behalf of two communities hit by oil spills said they would appeal the ruling by Mr Justice Fraser on Thursday, who gave permission to appeal.
Leigh Day, the law firm acting on behalf of the claimants, said it was surprised at the dismissal in such an early stage of their case, which rested on their claim that parent company Royal Dutch Shell has responsibility for its Nigerian arm and so the case should be heard in the UK.
But the judge in his ruling concluded: “there is simply no connection whatsoever between this jurisdiction and the claims brought by the claimants, who are Nigerian citizens, for breaches of statutory duty and/or in common law for acts and omissions in Nigeria, by a Nigeria company.”
Shell has denied liability and argued last November that the challenge involves “fundamentally Nigerian issues” that should be heard in a Nigerian court. The company avoided a London high court case in 2015, also brought by Leigh Day, when it paid a £55m settlement to separate communities affected by two oil spills it had caused.
The new case involves two claims, one brought by more than 2,000 fishermen and their families in the Bille kingdom, and another by about 40,000 people in the Ogale community in Ogoniland, in the oil-rich Niger delta.