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Hudbay Minerals Inc. and its foreign subsidiary defend against claims alleging negligence and serious human rights violations in Guatemala

Fasken
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Overview

Client

Hudbay Minerals Inc., Compañía Guatemalteca de Níquel S.A. and HMI Nickel Inc.

In September 2009, an incident occurred in Guatemala whereby an armed mob attacked a hospital on the property of Compañia Guatemalteca de Niquel S.A. (“CGN”), a then foreign subsidiary of diversified Canadian mining company, Hudbay Minerals Inc. (“Hudbay”). The attack on the hospital was alleged to have been conducted by members of Indigenous communities who were trespassing on and occupying company property.

In two actions, one plaintiff alleged that during the confrontation her husband was killed by CGN’s chief of security or another guard employed or hired by CGN under the chief of security’s control. The other plaintiff claimed that the chief of security shot and seriously injured him. The defendants rigorously defended the allegations, strongly denying negligence and that the alleged criminal conduct of CGN representatives occurred.

The plaintiffs sought to adopt the doctrine of control into the common law and expand the tort of negligence. The plaintiffs’ proposed legal liability for parent corporations respecting the operations of their foreign subsidiaries sought to undermine the bedrock principle of separate corporate personality which has been firmly entrenched in both the common law and federal and provincial corporate statutes for over 100 years. Success for the plaintiffs would result in a seismic shift of the law.

In October 2024, the action was settled without admission of any liability by the defendants and with the acknowledgement that the parties continue to have fundamentally differing views on the facts underlying the allegations, including the allegations of civil and criminal misconduct by Hudbay’s then foreign subsidiary representatives.

Fasken represented Hudbay, HMI, and CGN with a team comprised of Robert Harrison, Tracy Pratt and Vaso Maric.

Decisions

Commentary & Media

Jurisdiction

  • Ontario

Team

  • Vaso Maric, Counsel, Toronto, ON, +1 416 865 4402, vmaric@fasken.com