Reuters last week reported that the Ontario Court of Appeal on Friday overturned a ruling that would have forced Brazilian mining giant Vale SA to compensate property owners in Port Colborne, Ontario, for decades of pollution from a nickel refinery in the city.

In a unanimous ruling, the court overturned a 2010 Superior Court of Justice decision awarding CAD 36 million to plaintiffs in a class action suit.

In its ruling, the court noted that the nickel pollution did no harm to the properties surrounding the refinery and was not a health threat. It said “The claimants failed to establish actual, substantial, physical damage to their properties as a result of the nickel particles becoming part of the soil.”

It also said that the refinery was operating in a safe manner in a heavily industrialized part of the city and had complied with all laws.

The court also awarded Vale CAD 100,000 to cover the cost of the trial.

The case was Smith v Inco Limited, Docket C52491

The suit, brought by the residents of the small city on the north shore of Lake Erie, 35 kilometers (22 miles) west of Buffalo, New York, sought compensation for lowered property values due to pollution from the Inco Ltd refinery that operated there for 66 years before being closed in 1984.

(Sourced from Reuters)