Initiation of proceeding: Between 2015 and 2017, claimants, representing over 40,000 Nigerian citizens of the Ogale and Bille communities, filed several claims before the UK court against Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDS), the UK-based parent company of Shell, and its Nigerian subsidiary, Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Ltd (SPDC).  

Essentially, there are four sets of related proceedings before the court:  

• The Bille Individuals Claim (Alame & Others: HT-2015-000430) a claim by 2,335 existing or former inhabitants of the Bille Kingdom, was issued on 22 December 2015.  

• The Bille Community Claim (Chief Ibitamino D Minapakama & Others: HT-2017-000022), a claim by 21 council chiefs / community leaders, suing for themselves and on behalf of the people of the Bille Community, was issued on 27 January 2017. 

• The Ogale Community Claim (Okpabi & Others: HT-2015-000241), a claim by 15 council chiefs / community leaders, suing for themselves and on behalf of the people of the Ogale Community, was issued on 14 October 2015. 

• The Ogale Individuals Claim (Ejire Awala & Others: HT-2016-000147), a claim by (originally 26 and currently) 11,317 existing or former inhabitants and/or owners of land and/or fishponds in the Ogale farming and fishing Community, was issued on 13 June 2016.   

The claims were eventually joined together to be heard as one case.  

Main claims: The communities filed the case seeking compensation and clean up for severe environmental damage caused by oil spills in their areas that contaminated waterways and land. The claims against RDS and SPDC are based on the tort of negligence under the common law of Nigeria which, for present purposes, is to be regarded as the same as the law of England and Wales. The claim against RDS is brought on the basis that RDS owed the claimants a duty of care either because it exercised significant control over material aspects of SPDC’s operations and/or assumed responsibility for SPDC’s operations.   

Legal proceedings:  

On January 26, 2017, the High Court in the UK dismissed the claim against RDS, ruling that there was no arguable case against the parent company. The court found that the claim did not meet the threshold required for a duty of care owed by RDS to the claimants. On February 14, 2018, the Court of Appeal upheld the decision of the High Court, agreeing that there was no arguable case against RDS.  

In 2021, Following the Supreme Court’s judgment in the Vedanta case (Vedanta Resources PLC and another v Lungowe and others), which dealt with similar issues of parent company liability and established important precedent regarding the duty of care owed by UK parent companies to those affected by the actions of their subsidiaries abroad, the claimants were granted permission to appeal. 

On February 12, 2021, the Supreme Court ruled that the case could proceed in English courts concluding that there was a good arguable case that RDS was liable for systemic pollution caused by its Nigerian subsidiary, SPDC.  

The case in now pending a trial.