Roughly three years following a chemical spill at agrochemical giant UPL's warehouse north of Durban, affected individuals have approached the court as they seek compensation for damages.
Represented by LHL Attorneys LHL and Richard Spoor Incorporated RSI, the 13 claimants want the KwaZulu-Natal Division of the High Court in Durban first to grant them permission to pursue a class action against UPL South Africa.
If successful, the class action would represent thousands more people, fishers, hawkers and vendors reliant on beaches for business, small-scale farmers whose livelihoods and subsistence were impacted, and individuals who suffered physical injury due to the fire and chemical spill.
'The class action intends to seek compensation for thousands of individuals that suffered harm as a result of the release of hazardous chemicals when the UPL chemical storage facility in Cornubia, KwaZulu-Natal, caught alight on 12 July 2021,' a statement from LHL read.
The warehouse, located near Blackburn, north of Durban, was torched amid a looting spree in the middle of the Covid-19 pandemic. The fire raged for 11 days, burning up all the chemicals that were stored at the facility.
