English High Court rules in claimants’ favour in Brazilian dam liability judgment

On 14 November 2025, Mrs Justice O’Farrell in the High Court of England and Wales handed down judgment (available here) in favour of over 600,000 claimants seeking compensation for the collapse of the Fundão Dam in Southeast Brazil in 2015.

The court found BHP strictly liable for the disaster under Brazilian law as a result of its ownership and control of the joint venture company which operated the dam. This was because of the Brazilian “polluter law” which provides that a “polluter” is obliged to indemnify or repair damage to the environment regardless of fault. The court found BHP liable under the law because, together with Vale its joint venture partner, it was the controlling shareholder and directing mind of the joint venture company.

In addition, the court found that BHP’s control of the joint venture company and management of the dam gave rise to a Brazilian law duty to take positive action to remedy defects in it. As well as being strictly liable, the court found that BHP would also have been liable under one of the Brazilian fault-based liability regimes relied on by the claimants.

The judgment has decided, at first instance, the key issues of liability in the case but has not determined any issues relating to the claimants’ losses. There are also outstanding questions to be resolved in respect of the settlement agreements which had been reached with approximately 200,000 claimants, although the court did make certain findings about the relevant Brazilian legal principles governing those agreements and made determinations on some samples of them.

Stay tuned for a more detailed look at the judgment in due course.