2014-2019 Canadian Lawsuit against Tahoe Resources

In June 2014, seven plaintiffs commenced a civil lawsuit in British Columbia, Canada against Tahoe Resources Inc. for injuries arising from the alleged conduct of private security personnel employed at Escobal mine. In particular, on 27 April 2013, a protest was held outside the gates of Escobal. The plaintiffs “allege[d] that security guards opened the mine gates and “opened fire on the protestors using weapons that included shotguns, pepper spray, buckshot and rubber bullets” (BCCA, 2017). In 2015, Tahoe brought a motion requesting that the proceedings in British Columbia be stayed on the basis that Guatemala was the more appropriate forum for adjudicating these claims. This position was accepted by the British Columbia Supreme Court, but overturned by the Court of Appeal. On appeal, the Court found that the motion judge had erred in finding that Guatemala was “clearly” more appropriate. The Court considered the following three factors in overturning this decision: (1) the “limited discovery procedures available to the [plaintiffs] in Guatemala”; (2) “the marked uncertainty as to how the expiration of the limitation period will be treated by Guatemalan courts”; and (3) “the real risk that the [plaintiffs] will not obtain justice in Guatemala given the context of the dispute and the evidence of endemic corruption in the Guatemalan judiciary” (Ibid.). Tahoe’s application for leave to appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada was declined; therefore, the action was allowed to proceed to the trial stage in British Columbia. However, in 2019, after Pan-American Silver purchased Tahoe Resources and Minera San Rafael, the new mine owner made an out-of-court settlement with the four remaining Guatemalan plaintiffs to resolve the case. The terms of the settlement were confidential.