Blecher Welcomes Judgment on BHP Liability
PhD student Lara Blecher welcomes UK High Court judgment finding BHP strictly liable as polluters.
24 November 2025
The UK High Court has found BHP strictly liable as ‘polluters’ with regard to damages caused by the Mariana tailings dam collapse in Brazil in 2015. In a judgment delivered on 14 November 2025, Mrs Justice O’Farrell found that the risk of collapse, which killed 19 people and displaced many others, was foreseeable.
GCDC PhD student member Lara Blecher worked on this issue with investors for several years, and in 2023, the law firm that sued BHP cited a report she authored for investors examining the governance failures surrounding the disaster. She also authored a policy brief in 2024, in which she used the BHP case as an example of the financial challenges companies can face if they do not respect human rights and the environment.
Blecher remarked that the 2025 judgment is an important step forward for affected communities.
Read the judgment on the UK Judiciary website.