High Court dismiss BHP’s request to delay Mariana dam disaster trial

May 12, 2023
Mariana trial date set

The mining company BHP today suffered a huge defeat in the High Court when trying to delay Pogust Goodhead’s £36 billion lawsuit over Brazil’s worst environmental disaster.

In a judgment handed down today (Friday, 12 May 2023), the High Court dismissed BHP’s request to delay the Mariana dam disaster trial until 2025.

A new trial date has been set for 7 October 2024, which is the first possible date after the two-month long summer recess. The trial is set to last 11 weeks.

Reuters reported on the judgment in a news article titled ‘London court rejects BHP’s 14-month delay request to Brazil dam case.’ The full article can be accesed here.

Pogust Goodhead is representing 700,000 clients against the Anglo-Australian company for its part in causing Brazil’s worst ever environmental disaster. BHP is the world’s largest mining company, and this will be the largest group litigation claim in English legal history.

You can read more about the trial in an article for The Independent by our Global Managing Partner and CEO, Tom Goodhead.

Tom said today’s judgment means that “our clients will finally have their day in court, and they are now one step closer to the justice they deserve.”

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