UK Supreme Court Blog

EDITORS: Dan Tench, Emma Cross, Zainab Hodgson, Francesca Knight, James Warshaw and Natalie Haefner (CMS)
Hugh Tomlinson KC, Matthew Ryder KC, Dévante Gravesande-Smith and Rebecca Khan (Matrix)

On Wednesday 29^th and Thursday 30^th March the Court will hear the case of Jalla and another v Shell International Trading and Shipping Company and another, on appeal from [2021] EWCA 63. This case concerns the Bonga oil field, 120km off the coast of Nigeria, where Shell extracts oil using a mobile oil rig. On 20 December 2011, there was a leak from one of the flexible flowlines between the rig and mooring buoy while oil was being transferred onto a ship. The spill comprised at least 40,000 barrels and was one of the largest spills in Nigerian oil exploration history. The Court will consider whether an event causing permanent or very long-lasting pollution and toxicity with ongoing or fresh damage or impacts constitutes a continuing nuisance with fresh causes of action accruing until such time as the pollution is cleared up, or it eventually disappears of its own accord, in circumstances where the event causing the pollution occurs only once? The hearing will begin at 10:30am in Courtroom 1.

The following Supreme Court judgments remain outstanding: (As of 24/03/23)

• East of England Ambulance Service NHS Trust v Flowers and Ors, heard 22 June 2021
• Canada Square Operations Ltd v Potter, heard 14^th June 2022
• Unger and another (in substitution for Hasan) v Ul-Hasan (deceased) and another, heard 20^th October 2022
• Chief Constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland and another v Agnew and others (Northern Ireland), heard 14^th-15^th December 2022
• Smith and another v Royal Bank of Scotland, heard 12^th January 2023
• Republic of Mozambique (acting through its Attorney General) v Privinvest Shipbuilding SAL (Holding) and others, heard 24-25th January 2023
• Trustees of the Barry Congregation of Jehovah’s Witnesses v BXB, heard 13^th February 2023
• R (PACCAR Inc and others) v Competition Appeal Tribunal and others, heard 16^th February 2023.
• Lifestyle Equities C.V. and another v Ahmed and another, heard 20^th February 2023
• Morgan and others v Ministry of Justice (Northern Ireland), heard 22^nd February 2023
• JTI POLSKA Sp. Z o.o. and others v Jakubowski and others, heard 28^th February 2023
• Thaler v Comptroller-General of Patents, Designs and Trade Marks, heard 2^nd March 2023
• The Manchester Ship Canal Company Ltd v United Utilites Water Ltd No 2, heard 6^th March 2023
• London Borough of Merton Council v Nuffield Health Ltd, heard 7^th March 2023
• R (on the application of Palmer) v Northern Derbyshire Magistrates Court and another, heard 8^th March 2023
• R (on the application of Toraane and another) v Secretary of State for the Home Department, heard 9^th March 2023
• R (on the application of Officer W80) v Director General of the Independent Office for Police Conduct and others, heard 13^th March 2023
• Jalla and another v Shell International Trading and Shipping Company and another, heard 27^th March 2023