BHP has been ordered to pay at least £189 million in legal costs, one of the largest such claims in British history, after the mining group was found responsible for a 2015 dam collapse that killed 19 people.
On Wednesday (17), before the High Court in London, the lawyer for the victims of the Mariana dam disaster, in Minas Gerais, argued that his clients were “clearly the big winners” of a November judgment and that BHP must immediately pay at least part of the costs.
Last month’s ruling ruled that BHP is legally responsible for the 2015 dam collapse, which contaminated waterways and flooded riverside communities.
The compensation claim includes legal costs and around £44 million (324 million reais) in expenses for face-to-face contact centers and call center staff to communicate with the estimated 620,000 victims.
A separate trial, scheduled for October 2026, will decide how much BHP must pay victims following the £36 billion claim, believed to be the largest in English history.
Lawyers for BHP, which is seeking permission to appeal the liability ruling, said the costs request was “shocking” and the figure was overstated.
The details of the costs incurred by the claimants are “not accompanied by any adequate explanation”, BHP’s lawyers said in a written submission, adding that the court should exclude “a number of elements”.
The mining company’s legal team said it was “absurd” for the claimants to expect an interim payment of 60%, the equivalent of around £113 million (831.8 million reais), before a final decision on costs.
BHP will share any compensation bill with Brazilian mining group Vale, which co-owns the iron ore business.
The case has been closely watched by the legal industry after tensions between the victims’ law firm, Pogust Goodhead, and their funder threatened to drop the claim at the last minute.
US hedge fund Gramercy provided more than $750 million (4.1 billion reais) to finance Pogust’s cases, much of which was allocated to Mariana’s claim. The law firm operates on a “no win, no fee” basis and is expected to receive between 20 and 30 percent of the damages awarded to most plaintiffs.
BHP’s lawyer said in written documents Wednesday that Pogust Goodhead has “wealthy financiers who have, to date, been willing to provide significant sums to (the company) pursue this litigation without regard to proportionality.” This was “obvious” from the costs claimed, they added.
The mining company argued that the court should delay any decision on costs until after a second phase of the process, “where the question of overall success will be much clearer”. For the moment, responsibility has only been established “in principle”, he said.
Lawyers representing the claimants have defended the costs, arguing that the £189 million figure actually underestimates their true costs because it excludes items such as expenses relating to a jurisdiction application made by BHP to the court and an unsuccessful attempt by the miner to have the claim set aside.
Lawyers said the “huge” number of plaintiffs meant a substantial infrastructure had to be set up in Brazil to process so many people.
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