Pogust Goodhead fights back as Mariana control battle heads to High Court

Pogust Goodhead has gone to the High Court to reassert its control over the £36 billion Mariana dam litigation, escalating a battle with former partners who last week said they had taken over the case.

The firm issued a claim for declaratory relief on Friday against the client committee that backed the attempted transfer of hundreds of thousands of claimants to Bailey Glasser International (BGI), a new firm led by former Pogust Goodhead lawyers.

Pogust Goodhead is asking the court to rule that the committee did not have the authority to terminate the firm's engagement or direct a change in legal representation on behalf of the wider claimant group.

It is also seeking confirmation that the committee cannot prevent it from instructing Quinn Emanuel, which Pogust Goodhead brought in earlier this year to work on the damages phase of the litigation.

In a statement shared with Non-Billable, the firm said:

“Pogust Goodhead's position is clear: the Client Committee, a group of 17 members appointed by the previous management and whose identities are kept confidential, does not have the authority, acting on its own, to transfer the claims of hundreds of thousands of other people who have individual contracts with the firm.”

It warned that changing lawyers at this stage could have consequences for funding and insurance arrangements underpinning the case, as well as the timetable for the 22-week damages trial due to begin next year.

The firm also raised concerns about how the proposed move was being presented as “settled fact” to claimants.

“If clients are being encouraged to take potentially irreversible steps on the basis of materially incomplete information, that is a matter of serious concern and speaks directly to the protection of clients and the integrity of this litigation,” it said.

BGI did not respond to a request for comment by the time of publication.

Battle for the £36bn case

The latest development follows BGI's announcement last week that it had replaced Pogust Goodhead after the client committee voted unanimously on 28 August to end its relationship with the firm.

BGI said the decision followed “confidential matters” concerning Pogust Goodhead's conduct of the case that had repeatedly been raised with the firm.

BGI is a trading name of Edward McCourt & Company, an SRA-regulated law firm whose personnel includes former Pogust Goodhead partners Jeremy Evans and Faranak Ghajavand. Pogust Goodhead co-founder Tom Goodhead, who was ousted from the firm last year, was previously briefly a partner in the business.

BGI operates as a joint venture with US litigation firm Bailey & Glasser, with London disputes specialist Hausfeld supporting it in conducting the case.

The underlying litigation stems from the 2015 collapse of the Mariana dam in Brazil. Mining giant BHP was found liable last year, with the next stage of the case set to determine the compensation payable to claimants.