Country reports
This litigation concerns the collapse of the Fundão dam in south-eastern Brazil in November 2015. The Município de Mariana and other claimants brought claims under Brazilian law against an English and an Australian company in the Business and Property Courts of England and Wales. Their claims were for (i) strict liability as indirect polluters under the Brazilian Environmental Code and Civil Code, (ii) fault-based liability under the Civil Code and (iii) liability as controlling shareholders of a Brazilian entity under the Corporate Law.