A substantial damages claim against the Thor company in South African will be heard in a British court, writes Eddie Koch
ENGLISH lawyer Richard Meeran arrived in South Africa this week to prepare a multi-million-rand lawsuit in the British courts against Thor Chemicals for damages suffered by 20 workers, exposed to high levels of mercury toxins, at the multinational’s subsidiary in KwaZulu-Natal.
The case is a landmark one because it is poised to help ensure that British companies operating in South Africa and other developing countries are forced to apply the same strict health and safety standards, which apply in their home country, to subsidiary operations in the Third World.
The opportunity to sue in British courts arose when the House of Lords, the highest court of appeal in England, this month refused to entertain an appeal by Thor for the litigation to be heard in South Africa where the health and safety legislation is less advanced than in Britain.
Meeran originally sued the parent company in mid-1994 on behalf of three workers whose health was seriously damaged after being exposed to high levels of mercury at a Thor plant in Cato Ridge that was importing toxic waste from the United States and other countries, which refused to process the material because of its dangers.
Two of the workers, Peter Cele and Engelbert Ngcobo, died while the third victim, Albert Dlamini, is permanently disabled at the age of 28.
It was this case Thor appealed against, arguing South African courts were the most appropriate forum for it to be heard. The House of Lords’s rejection of that appeal this month cleared the way for South African victims of Thor to litigate in England.
The milestone decision encouraged Meeran to come to South Africa and prepare a case for another 17 workers whose health was seriously impaired, allegedly by chronic exposure to mercury toxins at the Cato Ridge plant.
He is currently collecting information to quantify the extent of the claims these workers will bring against the company.
An official commission of inquiry has been appointed by President Nelson Mandela to probe why the previous government allowed Thor to bring such dangerous waste into the country — and the company has since been forced to shut down its mercury recycling plant.
Meeran believes civil claims lodged in England by the victims of British subsidiaries will help force multinationals operating in the Third World to abide by the same health and safety standards that apply in their home country.
He has gathered evidence which shows Thor moved part of its British plant to South Africa in the 1980s after that country’s health and safety executive, which monitors health standards in local firms, expressed concern about the high levels of mercury in blood and urine of workers in England.
Meeran argues the parent company should bear major responsibility for the damage caused to its South African employees because Thor management in England played a strong role in the design of the Cato Ridge factory and moved some of the British plant and its personnel to KwaZulu-Natal.
The lawyer has not completed an assessment of the damage caused to the South African workers through loss of income, pain and suffering but estimates their claim will come to a total of 1-million. The British company has a turnover of about 50-million a year.
Thor management in South Africa argues the health of the first three workers was caused by acute exposure to mercury from an act of sabotage rather than bad company practice at the Cato Ridge plant — – a claim which Meeran says was refuted by Dr Lazlo Magos, an internationally-renowned toxicologist, who examined the victims’ medical and work records in preparation for the case and found they suffered chronic exposure over an extended period of time.
The company also refuses to accept the health of the other 17 workers is in any way related to mercury exposure.