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Nigeria Loses Legal Battle Against Shell in Oil Spill Case

The UK Supreme Court has ruled that it's too late for Nigeria's Niger Delta region to lodge pollution claims against energy giant Shell for a huge oil spill more than one decade ago. Its five judges "unanimously" rejected an appeal over the 2011 spill, upholding prior rulings that claims were not made before a legal deadline.

The claimants' lawyers argued that the ongoing damage directly caused by oil and gas activity in the region represented a "continuing nuisance", a type of civil tort, which would have rendered the deadline null, according to Reuters.

The Supreme Court has previously ruled against Shell in another case involving pollution in the Niger Delta. In February 2021, it allowed a group of 42,500 farmers and fishermen from the Ogale and Bille communities to sue Shell over spills, and that case is currently going through the High Court.

InFocus

Amnesty International

Pastor Christian Lekoya Kpandei's hand covered in oily mud, Bodo Creek, in 2011 (file photo).

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