UK court throws out Anglo American silicosis case

London’s High Court on Wednesday ruled that it had no jurisdiction over silicosis claims filed against Anglo American South Africa (AASA) on behalf of thousands of former gold mine workers, forcing the ex-miners to turn to South African courts. 

The claimants filed their case in London in September 2011, arguing that AASA's London-based parent company, Anglo American plc, were liable for the former workers’ contraction of silicosis and silicotuberculosis from excessive dust on AASA mines.

But Judge Andrew Smith disagreed. He, however, allowed the claimants to appeal the decision to the UK Court of Appeal.

UK law firm Leigh Day, which represented the former miners, said in a statement that many of the claimants had no option but to discontinue their UK claims and pursue their cases in South Africa.

“The claimants wish to sue in England owing to the possibility of obtaining higher damages and speedier court procedures, and because claimants’ lawyers’ ‘success fees’ are paid by a defendant rather being deducted from claimants’ compensation,” said local attorney Zanele Mbuyisa, who works closely with Leigh Day.

“Most of the claimants intend awaiting the outcome of the UK Court of Appeal decision. However, if they wait for the result of an appeal, and the appeal is ultimately unsuccessful, they might fall foul of a law that imposes a three-year time constraint on starting litigation in South Africa,” she commented.

Following the ruling, Leigh Day said it would, in cooperation with South Africa-based Mbuyisa, shortly begin a rolling process of filing cases against AASA in Johannesburg.

The first 50 claims were expected to be filed within days. 

“Urgent compensation for dying, sick and impoverished silicosis victims is essential,” said Mbuyisa.

The new cases would follow on the heels of the President Steyn miners' test cases against AASA, on which Leigh Day and Mbuyisa had been working in conjunction with the Legal Resources Centre and Legal Aid South Africa since 2003.

A study published in the American Journal of Industrial Medicine in 2008 found a 25% prevalence of silicosis in ex-miners from Lesotho who had been employed as long-term miners on AASA's President Steyn mine.

Ten of the test cases were scheduled for a public arbitration hearing in Johannesburg in May 2014, and would be highly influential in establishing the principles of liability of the gold mining industry.

Leigh Day attorney Richard Meeran added that the UK High Court ruling was a “pyrrhic victory” for Anglo American. “The evidence against the industry is strong and, having been involved in this silicosis litigation intensively from its inception nine years ago, we fully intend to see it through to its conclusion in order to secure justice for the victims,” he said.

An AASA spokesperson told Mining Weekly Online on Thursday that it believed that the UK judge “correctly found that the English court does not have jurisdiction to hear this claim”.

AASA, which is registered in Johannesburg, was the head office company of the Anglo American group until 1998 when the group underwent a restructuring including the establishment of Anglo American plc and London-based headquarters.