Alame & Ors v Shell

The claimants in this long-running group litigation are thousands of individuals from the Bille and Ogale communities in the Niger Delta, Nigeria. They allege that operations by Shell PLC and its Nigerian subsidiary caused persistent oil spills, leading to extensive environmental damage, and, consequently, damage to livelihoods. Thus, through the UK courts, the claimants seek to hold Shell liable for environmental harm caused abroad. The case has been managed under a Group Litigation Order (GLO) since May 2022, and numerous hearings have taken place to deal with case management issues. On the issue of how a claim is proved, the Court of Appeal delivered an important judgment in December 2024. It held that the "global claim" approach (i.e., claimants having to prove that Shell was responsible for all pollution causing the environmental contamination, and if any other sources of pollution contributed to their losses, each claim would fail) was not appropriate - rather, the “lead case” approach should be used: a smaller number of representative claimants would guide the overall litigation. Another preliminary issues hearing took place in June 2025, regarding aspects of Nigerian law. The full trial is expected to take place in late 2026.