SAO PAULO - A Brazilian federal court rejected a request made by the country's solicitor general's office asking that miners Vale, BHP and their joint venture Samarco pay 79.6-billion reais ($15.64-billion) for the 2015 collapse of a tailings dam.
The request had been filed under a civil lawsuit in which the firm had already been ordered to pay the amount in January.
In his decision, a substitute federal judge of a court in Minas Gerais state said the issue had already been resolved in the previous ruling, which said the execution would happen after the end of litigation.