Pogust Goodhead (PG) has issued a court challenge seeking clarification over who is representing clients in the ongoing Mariana Dam Litigation following last month’s announcement from Bailey Glassner International (BGI) that it had taken over representation after a client committee decided to change solicitors.
PG has strenuously objected to the proposed transfer, raising issues ranging from proper client representation to the impacts on insurance and litigation funding, barrister and co-counsel representation, and the demanding timetable for the next phase of the litigation, for which PG had instructed Quinn Emanuel.
The firm has sought a declaration from the High Court that the client committee was not authorised to terminate PG’s retainer and to change law firms and counsel, nor was it open to them to prevent Quinn Emanuel from being instructed at the damages stage of the litigation. It is also seeking to confirm Quinn Emanuel’s instruction, and to refuse the appointment of a new counsel team.
Last Friday, it petitioned the High Court to determine whether the client committee could collectively make decisions of this scale on behalf of the hundreds of thousands of claimants it represents.
A spokesperson said: “Clients are being encouraged to walk away from an established litigation structure on the representation that they can simply move to another firm with no material consequences. Yet those decisions may affect the very contracts, funding, insurance protections and litigation timetable that have enabled this case to reach a 22-week damages trial that is now only months away.”
They argued the transfers were being “presented as settled fact when the validity of the purported transfer is disputed and is now before the court”.
The spokesperson said: “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.”
They added: “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.”
This, the firm added, was “not a simple administrative matter”, saying that clients needed to “have a complete and accurate picture before making decisions that could have irreversible consequences”.
A spokesperson for Humphries Kerstetter, which represents the client committee, said: “The client committee was established to represent the collective interests of the claimants and has broad decision-making powers over the conduct of the litigation, including providing instructions to the lawyers and taking the steps necessary for the continuation or resolution of the case.
“The committee acted within those contractual powers, repeatedly raised serious concerns about the conduct of the litigation, including through a formal notice, and sought independent legal advice before concluding that a change of representation had become unavoidable.
“The committee remains fully confident in the decision it took to protect the interests of the people it represents.”
BGI has instructed Hausfeld to assist it with the ongoing litigation. BGI is an offshoot of US firm Bailey & Glasser and employs several former PG lawyers.
The litigation arises from the November 2015 collapse of the Fundão Dam in Mariana, Brazil. Following a trial between October 2024 and March 2025, the High Court found substantially for the claimants on liability in November last year. The Court of Appeal refused BHP permission to appeal in May 2026.
Stage Two of the claim will address causation, loss and compensation. Evidence is due to be heard between April and December 2027, with closing submissions scheduled for March 2028.
The defendant, BHP, was previously represented by Slaughter and May, which HSF Kramer replaced by agreement in December 2025. Its lead partners are Alan Watts, Natasha Johnson, Neil Blake and Christopher Cox, who now lead the counsel team. HSF Kramer declined to comment, as did Quinn Emanuel. The case continues.
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