Silicosis: Landmark judgment for mineworkers

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schumi

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Johannesburg – In a landmark judgment, the South Gauteng High Court ruled in favour of mineworkers to launch a silicosis class action suit against mining companies.

“We have reached the consensus that there are sufficient common issues to justify the class action. There will be two classes (for silicosis and for TB)," Deputy Judge President Phineas Mojapelo told the court on Friday morning.

“All the mining companies are accused of failing to protect health of the employees when they were legally bound to do so and as a result causing (the mineworkers) to contract TB and silicosis," Mojapelo said.

He was delivering judgment in the historic silicosis class action of Bongani Nkala and 55 others versus Harmony Gold Mining Company Ltd and 31 others.

The judgment makes this the largest class action to ever be certified in South Africa and it allows hundreds of thousands of gold miners and their families to access justice and redress.

Link: http://www.fin24.com/Companies/Mining/silicosis-landmark-judgment-for-mineworkers-20160513
 
Bad news for the mining houses, but good news for those suffering with these terrible diseases!
 
Mining firms violated constitutional obligation - judge

Johannesburg - Mining companies violated their constitutional obligation to protect their employees, a South Gauteng High Court judge said on Friday in a monumental ruling over silicosis affecting mineworkers.

Deputy Judge President Phineas Mojapelo said the miners presented a prima facie case.

Mojapelo ruled in favour of mineworkers who contracted the fatal lung disease silicosis as well as tuberculosis to launch a class action suit against 32 companies in the mining sector, including Harmony Gold [JSE:HAR], AngloGold Ashanti [JSE:ANG] and Gold Fields [JSE:GFI].

“We have reached the consensus that there are sufficient common issues to justify the class action. There will be two classes (for silicosis and for TB)," Mojapelo told the court on Friday morning.

“All the mining companies are accused of failing to protect the health of the employees when they were legally bound to do so and as a result causing (the mine workers) to contract TB and silicosis," Mojapelo said.

The judge said if the miners felt they could not access the legal system, they should be permitted to make use of their constitutional right to access to courts.

"If access to courts is denied to them, to follow a particular process to access a class action, then our rule of law is ruptured... We hold the view that in this particular case, class action is the only action.

"It is in the interest of justice that class action be certified in this case."

Fin24
Link: http://www.fin24.com/Companies/Mining/mining-firms-violated-constitutional-obligation-judge-20160513
 
Silicosis ruling not on merit - mine companies

Johannesburg - It is important to note that the court finding enabling a silicosis class action suit by 69 claimants against 32 South African mining companies does not represent a view on the merits of the case brought by claimants.

This is the collective response on behalf of six mining companies to what some regard as a landmark judgment by the South Gauteng High Court. The ruling now makes it possible for former mineworkers to proceed with a class action seeking damages from mining companies for lung diseases they contracted while working at their operations.

The court found sufficient common cause to justify a class action for silicosis and tuberculosis. The mining companies are accused of failing to protect the health of the employees when, it is claimed, they were legally bound to do so. As a result, they are alleged to have caused the mine workers to contract TB and silicosis.

A class action trial would therefore deal with all the evidence simultaneously, in what is regarded as the largest class action ever to be certified in SA.

A collective statement on behalf of the Occupational Lung Disease Working Group - representing African Rainbow Minerals [JSE:ARI], Anglo American [JSE:AGL], AngloGold Ashanti [JSE:ANG], Harmony [JSE:HAR] and Sibanye Gold [JSE:SGL] - states that the companies are studying the court’s decision.

Each company is yet to decide whether to lodge an appeal against the finding.

"The companies remain of the view that there are issues related to compensation and medical care for occupational lung disease that need to be addressed through engagement between stakeholders, with a view to designing and implementing a comprehensive solution that is both fair to past, present and future gold mining employees, and also sustainable for the sector," according to the statement.

"They, therefore, remain committed to achieving these goals."

The working group and its members indicated they will not comment further on the matter until they have studied the full judgment properly.

On March 5 this year, 4 365 former gold miners and relatives of deceased former miners reached a settlement with Anglo American SA and AngloGold Ashanti on claims instituted in 2012 for dust-related lung diseases, silicosis and silico-tuberculosis, which they claim were contracted from working in unsafe conditions in the mines. These claims were completely separate from the latest silicosis class action proceedings.

Fin24
Link: http://www.fin24.com/Companies/Mining/silicosis-ruling-not-on-merit-mine-companies-20160513
 
ARM bears brunt of silicosis ruling

African Rainbow Minerals (ARM) took the biggest hammering on the JSE on Friday after the South Gauteng High Court gave mineworkers who had contracted silicosis and their families a green light to pursue a multimillion-rand class action against mining companies for contracting the disease while at work.

ARM stocks fell 3.08 percent, following Judge Phineas Mojapelo’s ruling, which said mining companies should shoulder the responsibility for the fatal pulmonary and respiratory disease that had claimed the lives of thousands of mineworkers. At the close of business, ARM was valued R20.5 billion

Budgeted

The economist, who spoke to Business Report on condition of anonymity, said companies such as AngloGold Ashanti had already budgeted at least R500 million.

In March, AngloGold Ashanti settled almost R500m worth of claims filed by former mineworkers who suffered from silicosis.

http://www.iol.co.za/business/companies/arm-bears-brunt-of-silicosis-ruling-2021901
 
Application for leave to appeal silicosis class action suit dismissed

JOHANNESBURG - The Occupational Lung Disease Working Group has lost its application for leave to appeal against a decision to allow former mineworkers to forge ahead with a class action suit for compensation.

In May, the High Court in Johannesburg delivered a historic judgment allowing miners who had contracted silicosis to seek restitution.
Click to expand...

More at: http://ewn.co.za/2016/06/24/Applica...smissed?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter
 
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