The mining companies which are opposing the certification of a class of mine workers who want to seek damages against the gold mines for contracting occupational lung diseases have not offered a solution on how their claims should be heard.
This is the submission that was made before the high court in Johannesburg on Thursday by the advocate for the more than 50 mineworkers who want to institute a class action lawsuit against 32 gold companies that owned or operated 82 mines from 1965 and at present.
They are asking the court to certify a class of mineworkers who have contracted silicosis and tuberculosis‚ and the dependants of underground mineworkers who died of the diseases.
They seek compensation for having contracted these diseases while working at the companies’ mines from 1965. For the class action to be instituted‚ prospective members should ask the court to certify the class.
The gold mining companies are opposing the certification of the class‚ and have given a number of reasons why the class should not be certified. Chief among these is that the trial would not be manageable because thousands of individual claims would need to be heard in the class action. The companies said the cases would run for years.
Counsel for the mineworkers‚ Wim Trengove SC said the case was about how the victims and their widows should be allowed to have their constitutional right to have access to court. He said the only way was by means of a class action.
“The mining houses oppose our application for certification. We have sat here for a week and the mining companies are tossing obstacles in the way of the solution that has been posed. They have not made any meaningful contribution to find a solution‚” Trengove said.
Another advocate for the mineworkers‚ Geoff Budlender SC‚ said all of the companies breached a legal duty to protect mineworkers at some time.
“You have not heard them (mining companies) say none of their workers contracted silicosis as a result of exposure to silica dust‚” Budlender said.
He said none of the companies had told the court that as a result of steps they had taken to reduce workers’ exposure to silica dust‚ there was no silicosis in their mines.
The hearing‚ which started last Monday‚ is expected to finish on Friday.
Mining firms offer no alternatives to claims of mineworkers
The mining companies which are opposing the certification of a class of mine workers who want to seek damages against the gold mines for contracting occupational lung diseases have not offered a solution on how their claims should be heard.
This is the submission that was made before the high court in Johannesburg on Thursday by the advocate for the more than 50 mineworkers who want to institute a class action lawsuit against 32 gold companies that owned or operated 82 mines from 1965 and at present.
They are asking the court to certify a class of mineworkers who have contracted silicosis and tuberculosis‚ and the dependants of underground mineworkers who died of the diseases.
They seek compensation for having contracted these diseases while working at the companies’ mines from 1965. For the class action to be instituted‚ prospective members should ask the court to certify the class.
The gold mining companies are opposing the certification of the class‚ and have given a number of reasons why the class should not be certified. Chief among these is that the trial would not be manageable because thousands of individual claims would need to be heard in the class action. The companies said the cases would run for years.
Counsel for the mineworkers‚ Wim Trengove SC said the case was about how the victims and their widows should be allowed to have their constitutional right to have access to court. He said the only way was by means of a class action.
“The mining houses oppose our application for certification. We have sat here for a week and the mining companies are tossing obstacles in the way of the solution that has been posed. They have not made any meaningful contribution to find a solution‚” Trengove said.
Another advocate for the mineworkers‚ Geoff Budlender SC‚ said all of the companies breached a legal duty to protect mineworkers at some time.
“You have not heard them (mining companies) say none of their workers contracted silicosis as a result of exposure to silica dust‚” Budlender said.
He said none of the companies had told the court that as a result of steps they had taken to reduce workers’ exposure to silica dust‚ there was no silicosis in their mines.
The hearing‚ which started last Monday‚ is expected to finish on Friday.
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