Failure to remove contamination caused by oil spill not a continuing private nuisance

Supreme CourtPublished on June 6, 2023Jalla and another v Shell International Trading and Shipping Co Ltd and anotherBefore Lord Reed, Lord Briggs, Lord Kitchin, Lord Sales and Lord Burrows [2023] UKSC 16Judgment May 10, 2023

A major oil spill that was alleged to have caused oil to be present on the claimants’ land that had not been removed or cleaned up, was not a continuing nuisance but a one-off event so that the limitation period for bringing a claim in the tort of private nuisance against the alleged tortfeasor ran from the day of the actual oil spill.

The Supreme Court so held in dismissing the appeal of the claimants, Harrison Jalla and Abel Chujor, from the decision of the Court