An Australian judge ordered on Tuesday that three lawsuits against BHP Billiton involving the Samarco disaster in November 2015 should be limited from three to one, SteelOrbis has learned. According to a court decision obtained by SteelOrbis, three lawsuits have been filed against BHP Billiton over the Samarco disaster, which killed 19 people and halted production at pellet producer Samarco, a 50/50 joint venture between Vale and BHP Billiton.
The court ruling noted each proceeding alleges BHP Billiton engaged in “misleading or deceptive conduct and/or breaches of its continuous disclosure obligations arising from a failure to inform the market of the material risk that the Fundão Dam would collapse.”
The three lawsuits were filed by the following parties: Klemweb Superannuation Fund; the Los Angeles County Employees Retirement Association, also known as Lacera, and and Vince Impiombato. The judge of the Federal Court of Australia ruled the Impiombato class action could proceed. As for the Lacera lawsuit, the judge placed a “temporary stay,” or a “hold,” until September 1, 2019, to cut costs and reduce court overlap.
“I consider the Impiombato proceeding to be the most appropriate proceeding to go forward as the open class proceeding. I consider that the Klemweb proceeding should be permanently stayed. In relation to the LACERA proceeding, I consider it appropriate to order that, subject to further order, the proceeding be temporarily stayed until September 1, 2019. This is to allow time for the applicant in the Impiombato proceeding to investigate and consider potential claims relating to the additional period covered by the LACERA proceeding,” the judge ruled.