Brazilian miner and iron ore producer Vale announced on Friday the US District Court for the Southern District of New York dismissed most parts of a class lawsuit against the company and three of its executives over the Mariana disaster in November 2015, which killed 19 people and halted output at its JV-owned pellet producer, Samarco.
The class-action lawsuit sued Vale, its president, Murilo Ferreira, and two other executives not named by the iron ore producer.
Vale labeled the dismissed portions of the lawsuit as “an advancement”; the remaining parts of the lawsuit involved the company’s statements about risk mitigation in its sustainability reports dating back to 2013 and 2014.
The other remaining part of the lawsuit contains parts of “isolated” statements over Vale’s responsibility for the Fundao dam burst in November 2015, made by the company during an one-time only conference call in November 2015.