4 Nigerian fishers and farmers file possibly precedent-setting lawsuit against Royal Dutch Shell

[No Elephants]

Royal Dutch Shell faces a lawsuit from four Nigerian villagers on Thursday in a case that could set a precedent for damage claims against international companies.

Filed in a local court in The Hague, where Shell has its joint global headquarters, the case seeks to make Shell and other corporations responsible for pollution from three oil spills between 2004 and 2007 in the Niger Delta region of Africa's top energy producer.

Plaintiffs are four Nigerian farmers and fishermen and campaign group Friends of the Earth.

The four seek unspecified compensation and argue they can no longer feed their families because the area has been polluted with oil from Shell's pipelines and production facilities.

"My community is a ghost land as a result of the devastation. We had good vegetation. Today people have respiratory problems and are getting sick," said Eric Dooh, 44, from the Goi community, which lies between two pipelines.

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(Editing by Matthew Tostevin)

[Enthusiast]

1. It is Shell's responsibility to protect

their operation from "oil thieves". If they can't accomplish this they should not be allowed to drill in environmentally sensitive areas. The entire earth is an environmentally sensitive area.

[No Elephants]

2. Excellent point.