Significance: This case involves an interesting litigation strategy which has paid off up to this step in the proceeding.
Claimants in Nigeria sued the UK-domiciled parent company of a Nigerian-registered company for breach of common law duty of care on the basis that the parent exercised significant control over material aspects of the subsidiary’s operations and/or assumed responsibility for its operations, which allegedly failed to protect the appellants against the risk of foreseeable harm arising from its operations (oil spills).
UK Supreme Court granted the possibility of this claim and allowed the matter to proceed as a matter of jurisdiction.
https://www.supremecourt.uk/cases/docs/uksc-2018-0068-press-summary.pdf
See Okpabi v Royal Dutch Shell Plc [2021] UKSC 3