Ousted Pogust Goodhead founder returns to lead Mariana case for rival firm

Tom Goodhead is returning to the legal battle over the Mariana dam disaster, joining Bailey Glasser International as the fight over which law firm controls the case continues.

Goodhead co-founded Pogust Goodhead and launched the claim against mining giant BHP in 2018, turning it into one of the world's largest group actions. He was ousted as chief executive of the firm last year.

His return comes after former Pogust Goodhead partners launched an attempt earlier this month to move conduct of the case to Bailey Glasser International (BGI), the trading name of an SRA-regulated firm which Goodhead had links to.

BGI said on Wednesday more than 15 lawyers with experience on the Mariana case are moving to the firm, including former Pogust Goodhead partners Jeremy Evans, Faranak Ghajavand and Guy Robson. Senior barristers Alain Choo Choy KC and Andrew Fulton KC will also continue working on the case.

“It is an extraordinary honour to return to this case,” Goodhead said. “My focus is not on the past, nor on a dispute between law firms. It is on the people affected by Mariana.”

Battle for control

Questions remain over who actually represents the more than 400,000 claimants in the case.

BGI says a client committee representing a majority of the Mariana claimants voted unanimously in August for it to take over conduct of the case from Pogust Goodhead. It notified the High Court of the proposed change on 4 September.

Pogust Goodhead has challenged the attempted transfer and went to the High Court last week to reassert its control over the litigation. The court subsequently rejected a request by BGI to stay the proceedings and is due to determine which firm represents the claimants at a hearing in October.

The dispute adds another twist to a case that Goodhead helped build before his dramatic departure from the firm bearing his name.

Goodhead told the Financial Times that he had been under pressure from Gramercy, the US hedge fund backing the litigation, to accept a settlement he considered too low. He claimed his removal from Pogust Goodhead eight weeks later was connected to his refusal to agree to the settlement.

Gramercy agreed a $550 million funding deal with Pogust Goodhead in 2023, one of the largest litigation finance deals of its kind.

Goodhead returns

The Mariana litigation stems from the 2015 collapse of the Fundão dam in Brazil, which killed 19 people and caused widespread environmental damage.

The High Court found BHP liable for the disaster in November last year, with the case now moving towards determining compensation for approximately 420,000 claimants.

Goodhead spoke to Non-Billable before leaving Pogust Goodhead last year about how he built the Mariana claim and his ambition to create the claimant-side equivalent of firms such as Kirkland & Ellis and Quinn Emanuel.