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Shell lawsuit overview:
- Who: More than 13,000 Nigerian residents in total have filed or are part of complaints against Shell.
- Why: The residents are asking for Shell to compensate them for oil spills connected to the company in the Western African country and for the oil giant to clean up any residual oil.
- Where: The claimants are made up of residents and institutions from Ogale, Nigeria, and residents from Bille, Nigeria.
Shell is facing a lawsuit filed on behalf of more than 11,000 Nigerian residents claiming they are owed compensation for oil spills attributed to the company that occurred in the country off the western coast of Africa.
The claimants — made up of residents and institutions from the community of Ogale — have asked the High Court in London for damages, and to require Shell to clean up any residual oil from the spills, reports CNBC.
The Nigerian claimants — which includes a total of 11,317 residents — have also reportedly asked Shell to compensate them for environmental damage allegedly caused by the oil spills, which they argue has affected their livelihoods.
The complaint follows a total of 2,335 individual lawsuits brought against Shell in the High Court in London in 2015 by residents of a smaller Nigerian village called Bille, reports CNBC.
Combined, a total of more than 13,000 Nigerian residents have reportedly thus filed complaints against Shell in response to oil spills connected to the company.
Shell argues Nigerian communities have no legal standing to force company to clean up oil spills
Shell has argued that the Nigerian communities have no legal standing to force the company to clean up the oil spills and that both Ogale and Bille are not allowed to seek compensation for the spills, reports CNBC.
Many of the oil spills that are at the center of the complaints against Shell reportedly occurred more than five years prior to the actions being placed.
The complaints are anticipated to reach trial sometime next year, reports CNBC.
U.K.’s Supreme Court, meanwhile, reportedly ruled in 2021 that “a good arguable case” existed for claims that Shell was legally responsible for pollution alleged to be systemically caused by its Nigerian subsidiary.
Shell has said that it intends to leave the Niger Delta — after 80 years of operating in the area — and sell the company’s onshore oil fields and assets, reports CNBC.
In July 2021, Nigerian residents from the coastal part of the country urged an appeals court in the U.K to allow a complaint filed against Shell on behalf of 27,000 residents in response to the 2011 Bonga oil spill.
Have you been negatively impacted by an oil spill? Let us know in the comments!
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