High Court Justice Finola O’Farrell has found BHP Group liable for the 2015 collapse of a Samarco tailings dam that released toxic waste into the Doce River and killed 19 people. The judge said unsafe heightening of the dam was the "direct and immediate cause" of the failure, creating liability under Brazilian law. BHP will appeal and notes roughly 240,000 claimants have received compensation in Brazil, where Samarco and Vale agreed to pay R$132 billion over 20 years.
UK High Court Rules BHP Liable for 2015 Brazil Dam Collapse in Landmark Decision
High Court Justice Finola O’Farrell has found BHP Group liable for the 2015 collapse of a Samarco tailings dam that released toxic waste into the Doce River and killed 19 people. The judge said unsafe heightening of the dam was the "direct and immediate cause" of the failure, creating liability under Brazilian law. BHP will appeal and notes roughly 240,000 claimants have received compensation in Brazil, where Samarco and Vale agreed to pay R$132 billion over 20 years.
06:43 PM, 11/14/2025Environment
UK judge finds BHP legally responsible for Brazil’s worst environmental disaster
High Court Justice Finola O’Farrell has ruled that global mining giant BHP Group is legally liable for the 2015 collapse of a Samarco tailings dam in Brazil, a disaster lawyers for the claimants once valued at as much as £36 billion ($48bn).
Key finding
O’Farrell concluded that persistently raising the dam’s height when it was unsafe was the "direct and immediate cause" of the failure, creating liability under Brazilian law even though BHP did not own the dam at the time of the collapse.
The disaster
On November 5, 2015, a tailings dam at the Samarco iron ore operation ruptured, releasing tonnes of toxic mining waste into the Doce River. The torrent of slurry destroyed the village of Bento Rodrigues, severely damaged other towns in Minas Gerais state, left thousands homeless and inundated forests.
The collapse killed 19 people, and researchers at the University of Ulster estimated that roughly 14 tonnes of freshwater fish were killed and some 600 km (about 370 miles) of the Doce River were contaminated. Investigators have compared the spill’s volume to about 13,000 Olympic-size swimming pools. The river — revered by the Krenak Indigenous people as a living deity — has not fully recovered.
Legal and corporate context
Anglo-Australian BHP owns 50% of Samarco; the other half is owned by Brazilian miner Vale. The London lawsuit was filed because, at the time the case began, one of BHP’s principal legal entities was based in the UK. The trial in London opened in October 2024.
Brazil’s federal government separately negotiated a multibillion-reais settlement: Samarco agreed to pay 132 billion reais (about $23bn) over 20 years to address human, environmental and infrastructure damage. BHP has argued the UK proceedings duplicate remedies already pursued in Brazil and said many claimants have received compensation there.
BHP response and next steps
BHP said it will appeal Justice O’Farrell’s ruling and continue to contest the litigation. In a statement, Brandon Craig, President Minerals Americas for BHP, noted that around 240,000 claimants named in the London action "have already been paid compensation in Brazil." The company maintains that the London case is unnecessary and overlaps with Brazilian legal processes.
Judge O’Farrell: Continuing to raise the height of the dam when it was not safe to do so was the direct and immediate cause of the collapse.
Implications: The judgment highlights how multinational corporate decisions can expose parent companies to liability across jurisdictions, and it may influence how future transnational environmental claims are handled by courts in the UK and elsewhere.