The UK High Court has ruled that allegations that witnesses who testified for Shell over oil spills in Nigeria sought to mislead the court can be examined ahead of the full trial of a long-running legal battle involving two Niger Delta communities.
The ruling followed a series of hearings in July 2026 concerning claims by the communities that their land in Bille, in Nigeria’s Niger Delta, was devastated by oil pollution allegedly caused by Shell.
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In a statement issued by Leigh Day, a UK law firm representing the communities, and shared with PREMIUM TIMES on Thursday, the firm said the disputed witness evidence was given between 2016 and 2021 during jurisdiction proceedings before the High Court, Court of Appeal and Supreme Court.
Shell had sought to have the case dismissed from the English courts, arguing that the claims should be heard in Nigeria.
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Its position was based partly on evidence that Shell Nigeria was wholly autonomous from its London-based parent company, Shell Plc.
However, the UK Supreme Court unanimously rejected Shell’s jurisdiction arguments in 2021, allowing the substantive claims to proceed.
The full trial is scheduled to begin at the High Court in May 2027, the statement noted.
Alleged misleading evidence
The Bille communities are seeking aggravated damages, alleging that Shell knowingly relied on false or misleading factual assertions by its witnesses in an attempt to prevent their claims from proceeding in the English courts.
Shell’s lawyers had argued that the allegations concerning the witness evidence should be dealt with separately after the main trial, if the claimants were successful.
According to the statement, the High Court rejected that approach, ruling that the issue should be considered before the substantive trial because it could affect the credibility of witnesses Shell intends to rely upon.
A separate hearing is also expected to determine whether Shell’s communications with its internal and external lawyers concerning the disputed evidence should remain protected by legal professional privilege, the law firm said.
The claimants argue that Shell has lost that privilege because of its alleged improper conduct.
Shell’s pipeline concerns
The case comes amid renewed scrutiny of Shell’s environmental record in Nigeria.
In June, PREMIUM TIMES reported that Shell continued operating one of its major oil pipelines in Nigeria for years despite internal warnings about environmental risks and infrastructure concerns, according to newly disclosed company documents.
The documents, obtained by the BBC through ongoing litigation in the UK, included emails, technical assessments and internal presentations showing that Shell executives repeatedly raised concerns about the safety and condition of the Nembe Creek Trunk Line (NCTL), a key pipeline transporting crude oil from inland oilfields to export facilities.
The revelations have added to scrutiny of decades of environmental pollution in the Niger Delta, where repeated oil spills have damaged wetlands, mangroves and fishing communities.
The documents were disclosed as part of legal proceedings brought by communities around the creeks and mangroves of the Niger Delta seeking to hold Shell liable for pollution linked to more than 100 oil leaks between 2011 and 2013.
A PREMIUM TIMES investigation published in June also found that the continuous eruption of toxic gases is threatening lives and livelihoods in Bille, amid decades of pollution and the improper decommissioning of abandoned oil facilities across the riverine community.
Ruling on Bille pollution claims
The High Court also rejected aspects of Shell’s challenge to the claimants’ updated pleadings, which set out the factual and legal basis for holding Shell responsible for pollution in Bille.
According to Leigh Day, the court confirmed that the communities can argue that Shell is responsible for pollution affecting the area even where residents cannot identify every individual spill that contributed to the contamination.
The court also clarified that the claims are not “all or nothing” or “global claims.”
READ ALSO: Ten oil spills recorded in Niger Delta in July
The decision could have wider implications for environmental litigation involving pollution caused by multiple incidents, particularly where affected communities may find it difficult to identify every individual polluting event and establish its precise contribution to the overall damage.
Matthew Renshaw, an international partner at Leigh Day, welcomed the ruling.
“Shell’s attempts to frustrate the progress of these claims has now reached a dead end and the case will now proceed to trial in full,” Mr Renshaw said.
He said the communities were pleased that the court had recognised the importance of determining whether Shell’s witnesses gave false or misleading evidence during the earlier proceedings.
According to Mr Renshaw, the ruling also establishes an important precedent for environmental cases involving multiple pollution events, allowing claimants to rely on a common-sense assessment of the harm caused without having to identify every individual incident and link it to a specific injury.
Shell’s position on the allegations will be tested as the proceedings continue, with the substantive trial expected to commence in May 2027.
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