At the Bonga oil field, 120km off the coast of Nigeria, oil is extracted using a mobile oil rig. The oil is sent from the mobile rig, via submersible flexible flow lines, to a mooring buoy and is then loaded onto oil tankers. On 20 December 2011, there was a leak from one of the flexible flowlines between the rig and mooring buoy while oil was being transferred onto a ship (the 'Spill'). The Spill comprised at least 40,000 barrels and was one of the largest spills in Nigerian oil exploration history.
The Appellants allege that the oil migrated from the offshore Bonga oil field to reach the Nigerian Atlantic shoreline where they claim it has had a devastating impact. Although the Respondents dispute these claims, it is assumed for the purposes of this appeal that some quantity of oil reached the Nigerian Atlantic shoreline within weeks of 20 December 2011. Because the claims against the first Respondent, STASCO, were commenced over six years after the oil is alleged to have first reached the shoreline, the claim would be statute barred unless it involved a 'continuing nuisance'. The High Court held that the nuisance alleged by the Claimants could not constitute a continuing nuisance and thereby extend the limitation period. The Claimants appealed to the Court of Appeal, who dismissed the appeal. The Claimants now appeal to the Supreme Court.

In 1990, the respondent, Mrs B, was raped by an elder of the Barry Congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses, Mark Sewell, at his home, after they had been out evangelising together. Mr Sewell was convicted of raping Mrs B, and of indecently assaulting two other people, in 2014.
In 2017, Mrs B brought a claim for damages against the worldwide governing body of the Jehovah’s Witnesses, Watchtower and Bible Tract Society of Pennsylvania, and the appellant, the Trustees of the Congregation. She claimed that they were responsible in law (or, “vicariously liable”) for the rape, because of the nature of their relationship with Mr Sewell and because of the connection between that relationship and the commission of the rape.
Both the High Court and the Court of Appeal found in Mrs B's favour. The appellant now appeals to the Supreme Court.