In 2012, members of the Bodo community in Nigeria filed suit against Shell Dutch Petroleum in front of the UK High Court for alleged environmental damages and health issues resulting from two oil spills.  Shell admitted liability for the spills, but it disputed the volume, extent, and impact caused. In 2014, the UK High Court made a preliminary ruling that Shell could be held liable for the damage caused by oil spillage if it was proved Shell neglected to take reasonable steps to protect its pipelines. Following this ruling, the case settled in 2015 with Shell agreeing to pay £55 million in damages and undertake a clean-up process. 

The Resource Centre's case profile on this lawsuit is here.

This research was conducted solely by LIDS with support from Orrick.