Dineo Faku
THE rejection by a British court of a damages suit by thousands of former South African miners against Anglo American’s local unit for exposure to silica dust is “a minor setback” for the lawyers who now plan to bring the court battle back to South Africa.
The lawyers representing miners claiming for exposure to silica dust intend to file court papers in South Africa in the coming days after a judge in London threw the case out on Wednesday.
The victims’ lawyer, Richard Meeran, a partner at UK law firm Leigh Day, insists that the ruling signals the continuation of the court battle in South Africa.
Following the ruling, the claimants had no option but to stop their UK claims and pursue their cases in South Africa, although the lawyers do plan to appeal the court decision.
Meeran is working with Zanele Mbuyisa, a local attorney who will file the claims against Anglo in South Africa shortly. Mbuyisa said the first 50 claims were likely to be filed within days.
“Urgent compensation for dying, sick and impoverished silicosis victims is essential,” Mbuyisa said.
Meeran stressed that the damages would be substantial and he expected compensation to run into hundreds of millions of rands.
“We are calling on industry to establish a settlement scheme for victims, based on the scale of the silicosis claims,” Meeran added.
London High Court Judge Andrew Smith dismissed the case, saying that UK courts had no jurisdiction over the matter.
“The English court is not obliged to assume jurisdiction over claims that have little to do with this country,” Smith said.
Smith gave the miners permission to appeal the decision.
For many of the 3 000 claimants it would be too late, Meeran said, adding that by the time the appeal was decided, the prescribed period may have expired.
According to Meeran, the ruling turned on the interpretation of European law, which provided that a corporation could be sued in the place of its “central administration”.
The claimants, whose papers were filed in London in September 2011, argued that Anglo’s central administration was located in that city.
The court had disagreed.
Asked for comment on the outcome of the case, Anglo spokesman Pranill Ramchander said the company welcomed the court’s decision.
“Anglo American South Africa believes that the court correctly found that the English court does not have jurisdiction to hear this claim,” Ramchander said yesterday.
Richard Spoor, a human rights lawyer who is handling a parallel case on the South African side, said the court ruling was in Anglo’s favour.
“Anglo most probably would prefer to be sued in South Africa because damages and legal costs in the UK are considerably higher compared to South Africa,” Spoor said.
Spoor, added that the ruling was disappointing, but it did not affect the case’s chance of being heard in South Africa.
In December Spoor filed for a class action certification in the South Gauteng High Court on behalf of thousands of former gold miners who contracted silicosis between the 1950s and 1990s.
The class action involves 30 gold mining companies including Harmony Gold, AngloGold Ashanti, Gold Fields, Village Main Reef and African Rainbow Minerals.
Spoor has argued that compensation to the miners was insufficient, saying that employees that suffered from damaged lungs received an average of R20 000 to R30 000.
“This is a bare minimum when considering that they have lost their jobs, and have no income for their medical care,” Spoor said.