Trafigura finalizes Ivory Coast toxic waste payout

Trafigura, one of the world's leading oil and metals traders, and lawyers for 31,000 residents of the Ivory Coast listed in the claim, agreed the settlement on Sunday and it was finalized in Britain's High Court on Wednesday.

A trial scheduled for October 1 will not now go ahead.

Details of the settlement were not disclosed in court, with both parties bound by a confidentiality agreement.

Trafigura denies any wrongdoing and has said the settlement is not an admission of responsibility, a position its lawyers reiterated in court on Wednesday.

The case involved the dumping of toxic oil residue in a dozen sites around Abidjan, Ivory Coast's main city, in August and September 2006 by a company hired by Trafigura to dispose of the waste.

Shortly after the material was dumped, thousands of residents of the city complained of illnesses, including breathing problems, skin irritation and related ailments.

The government of Ivory Coast said 16 people died. But the judge on Wednesday made clear there was no evidence the waste had caused anything more than "flu-like symptoms" and said parts of the media had been irresponsible in their reporting.

Both parties agreed on Wednesday that the settlement terms were fair and lawyers said a large proportion of the 31,000 claimants in Ivory Coast had already accepted the agreement.

A libel suit filed by Trafigura's lawyers against Leigh Day, the solicitors representing the claimants, was also dropped as a result of the settlement.

Trafigura previously agreed a $198 million out-of-court settlement with the Ivory Coast government in 2007 which exempted it from legal proceedings in the West African country.

(Reporting by Luke Baker)