Transnational litigation of local oil pollution damages, a study of environmental tort claims by Ecuadorian, Nigerian and Sudanese oil communities against multinational oil companies before the courts of the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada

In recent times, oil pollution from Multinational Oil Companies ("MNOCs") operations in some Third World oil-producing countries and its negative impact on local oil communities has become a major concern. Mainly, oil dumping, oil spills, pipelines leakage, and excessive gas flares have contaminated oil communities' drinking water, polluted their air, destroyed their farmlands, threatened their social and economic well-being and have been responsible for serious health problems and high mortality rates. More worryingly, these Third World communities are comprised of marginal groups or minority ethnic groups that are susceptible to discrimination by their national governments. They lack meaningful representation in the political process, they have been excluded by their governments from participating in the decisions relating to oil investment in their lands, and have been denied a fair share of revenues from oil extracted from their homeland. In addition, the national governments pass laws to exert control over their land's natural resources and to make unlawful their claims of right to self-determination. In addition to this lack of legislative protection, the poverty of these communities adds to their difficulties in suing MNOCs before national courts when oil pollution encroaches on their human and environmental rights. The difficulty of gaining access to justice is aggravated by political interference in judicial decisions concerning claims against MNOCs. Apart from this, the national tort law in the developing world is of a very limited scope when governing negligent corporate behaviour. Above all, the structural weaknesses at all levels of the judicial systems of these countries make it quite impossible for these communities to obtain a fair trial of their claims against MNOCs. In the absence of a national machinery to redress or settle these claims, the only avenue for these communities to obtain a fair trial appears to be through private international law. Through this process, communities typically sue the parent company of the subsidiary operating in their land before its home-state courts (the courts of the country where the parent company of MNOCs is incorporated). However, in the context of claims characterized by many foreign elements, there are several problems and gaps in using a private international law process. These problems essentially limit the jurisdiction of these courts over these claims thereby reducing the chances of foreign claimants obtaining a hearing in these courts. More importantly, against any attempts to sue MNOCs in their home-states courts, the parent companies fall back on the common law doctrine of 'forum non conveniens' which enables these courts to dismiss any foreign claims lacking the most real connection with the forum. As this doctrine has proven a strong defence for such companies, and provides home-state courts with the wide discretionary power to dismiss foreign environmental claims, the thesis suggests its modification.