By Karolin Schaps | LONDON
Oil major Royal Dutch Shell cannot be sued in London courts over Nigerian oil spill allegations, the High Court ruled on Thursday, dealing a setback to attempts to hold multinationals liable at home for subsidiaries’ activities.
If the High Court had ruled in favor of the two groups, other claimants against British-based multinationals could have been emboldened to pursue legal action through the British courts, some legal experts had said.
Villagers from the Bille and Ogale communities in Nigeria’s oil-rich Delta region were trying to pursue oil spill allegations against the company’s Nigerian subsidiary Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria (SPDC) in British courts.
The court ruled that the suit did not establish that Shell, the parent company, had legal responsibility for SPDC’s actions.
“The claimants have failed to demonstrate that the first threshold requirement – is there a ‘real issue’ between the claimant and the anchor defendants – is met,” the ruling stated.
Leigh Day, a law firm representing the villagers, said it would appeal the ruling.
Igo Weli, SPDC’s general manager for external relations, said the firm hoped “the strong message sent by the English court today ensures that any future claims by Nigerian communities concerning operations conducted in Nigeria will be heard in the proper local courts”.
The Nigerian villagers argued domestic courts were unfit to hear their case, while Shell said the matter was a uniquely Nigerian issue and should be heard there.
Shell also denies responsibility for the spills, which it says were due to sabotage and illegal refining.
“It is our view that the judgment failed to consider critical evidence which shows the decisive direction and control Royal Dutch Shell exercises over its Nigerian subsidiary,” said Dan Leader, partner at Leigh Day who also represented Nigeria’s Bodo community in another oil spill claim against Shell that ended in a $55 million settlement in 2015.
Last year, the High Court ruled that a case brought by Zambian villagers against miner Vedanta Resources over environmental pollution could be heard in England.
(Reporting By Karolin Schaps; editing by Susan Thomas and Adrian Croft)
This website and sisters royaldutchshellplc.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.
Royal Dutch Shell conspired directly with Hitler, financed the Nazi Party, was anti-Semitic and sold out its own Dutch Jewish employees to the Nazis. Shell had a close relationship with the Nazis during and after the reign of Sir Henri Deterding, an ardent Nazi, and the founder and decades long leader of the Royal Dutch Shell Group. His burial ceremony, which had all the trappings of a state funeral, was held at his private estate in Mecklenburg, Germany. The spectacle (photographs below) included a funeral procession led by a horse drawn funeral hearse with senior Nazis officials and senior Royal Dutch Shell directors in attendance, Nazi salutes at the graveside, swastika banners on display and wreaths and personal tributes from Adolf Hitler and Reichsmarschall, Hermann Goring. Deterding was an honored associate and supporter of Hitler and a personal friend of Goring.
Deterding was the guest of Hitler during a four day summit meeting at Berchtesgaden. Sir Henri and Hitler both had ambitions on Russian oil fields. Only an honored personal guest would be rewarded with a private four day meeting at Hitler’s mountain top retreat.
IN JULY 2007, MR BILL CAMPBELL (ABOVE, A RETIRED GROUP AUDITOR OF SHELL INTERNATIONAL SENT AN EMAIL TO EVERY UK MP AND MEMBER OF THE HOUSE OF LORDS: 
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A head-cut image of Alfred Donovan (now deceased) appears courtesy of The Wall Street Journal.
