40,000 Nigerians take Shell to UK court over oil spills
"40,000 Nigerians take Shell to UK court over oil spills", 16 Nov 2016
UK based oil firm, Shell, is facing fenvironmental claims in a London high court from two Nigerian communities who have suffered pollution episodes following repeated large scale oil spills from the oil giant’s pipelines in the Niger Delta. The two separate legal actions are being brought by law firm Leigh Day who represented the Bodo Community against Shell in an unprecedented environmental claim resulting in Shell agreeing to pay compensation package of £55million to the Community and 15,600 Nigerian fishermen whose livelihoods had been destroyed by Shell’s oil pollution. The high court will begin to hear arguments during a four-day hearing starting on November 21, 2016 on whether the English courts can hear two legal claims on behalf of over 40,000 Nigerians against Royal Dutch Shell (RDS) and its Nigerian subsidiary, Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Ltd (SPDC) for extensive environmental damage caused by oil pollution to two separate communities in the Niger Delta...The first claim is being brought on behalf of 2,335 individuals from the Bille Kingdom of Nigeria...The second claim is brought on behalf of the Ogale Community in Ogoniland, which consists of roughly 40,000 people...