A group of Durban residents has urged the KwaZulu-Natal Division of the High Court to file a class action lawsuit against Indian agrochemicals company UPL for health damage and financial losses allegedly caused by a toxic pesticide.
The local subsidiary of Mumbai-based UPL Agrochemicals Group is fighting a court application that would open the door to a class action lawsuit for damages. This comes after a massive chemical fire in Durban during the 2021 July uprising.
Lawyers working for the South Durban Community Environmental Coalition and 12 local residents told Judge Jacqueline Henriques that a class action – a relatively new legal mechanism in this country – would serve the interests of justice.
“After the environmental devastation that has clearly caused great and unprecedented harm to members of the proposed classes, (UPL) is unwilling to take responsibility for the harm it causes to the human beings at the center of this case.
He argued, “The fact is that the majority of such individuals are also likely to be among the poorest.”
But UPL has appointed a team of lawyers and four advocates to stop the proposed class action, arguing that it was the real victim and the class action route could enable some of the same “looters” who set fire to its warehouse…