[JURIST] Federal prosecutors in Brazil have filed a civil lawsuit [complaint, PDF, in Portuguese; press release, in Portuguese] against mining companies Vale SA BHP Billiton Ltd. [corporate websites] worth 155 billion reais (USD $43.55 billion) for a November dam collapse that killed 19 people and polluted more than 400 miles of the Rio Doce basin. The suit [Reuters report] comes after a six-month investigation including both state and local governments. It follows a settlement agreement [press release] that was reached in March between the Federal Prosecutor of Brazil and Samarco Mineração SA [corporate website], a company to which both Vale SA and BHP Billiton Ltd. are shareholders, in which Samarco agreed to repair damage done and compensate when “remediation was not possible.”

In January Brazil’s Federal Police accused [JURIST report] seven people and the three companies of environmental crimes in its probe into the major Fundão dam collapse that occurred on November 5. Brazil’s Minster of Natural Environment said in November that the country’s government planned to sue [JURIST report] BHP Billiton Ltd., Vale SA and Samarco Mineração SA for USD $5.24 billion for damages caused by the dam collapse at an iron ore site. The Special Rapporteurs sent by the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights reported [press release] that the “steps taken by the Brazilian government, Vale and BHP Billiton to prevent harm were clearly insufficient” and that “this disaster serves as yet another tragic example of the failure of businesses to adequately conduct human rights due diligence to prevent human rights abuses.”