In his early days as a lawyer, Tom Goodhead learned about trade through fascinating personal injury cases, including medical negligence, car accidents, and, in one case, someone who fell into a pub called the Tumble Inn.
Today, he is responsible for what is considered to be the largest case in UK legal history: a £360 billion class action lawsuit against Australia’s BHP for Brazil’s mining accident.
Supported by large-scale investors, his company Pogust Goodhead filed a London lawsuit on behalf of nearly 640,000 victims of the 2015 Mariana Dam collapse, killing 19 people, kicking out thousands, and causing widespread ecological harm.
The ruling is expected before the summer after the recent conclusion of a 12-week civil trial in the High Court.
“This is probably the biggest class action lawsuit ever brought in in a UK court,” Goodhead said. For the victims’ families, it was to “hold the world’s largest mining company accountable.”
“We’ve got a huge amount on it,” he said.
This includes the reputation of his young litigation boutique. This promises a bumper payday if you win, but has reported an operating loss of £52 million on your latest account.
In the late 2022 financial statements issued this week, which showed revenues of £53 million, the company’s auditors flagged “significant uncertainty” about whether it could continue as a concern due to its funding needs. Goodhead said the losses in 2022 were “not totally surprising.” He added that the company has grown because it “researchs more like Silicon Valley startups than law firms,” and that lenders have “clear support.”
Tom Goodhead: “We have a huge amount on it” © Vuk Valcic/SOPA Image
Pogust Goodhead, a specialist in consumer protection and environmental cases, has been calculated to be inflation and interest in Mariana’s damages of £360 billion. Under a “win, no fee” transaction, we charge 20 or 30% from most claimants, including individuals, businesses and municipalities. For clients in Indigenous communities, it works pro bono.
This is a high stakes case for BHP, both in the Samarco iron ore complex where the accident occurred, and the boutique law firm that was cast as a crusader and colonialist sponger.
“This action in London is part of a movement that trusts Brazil’s judicial system and threatens the sovereignty of jurisdiction,” said Rafael Valim, a lawyer at Ward Advogados, who represents Brazil’s mine lobby Ibram. “We stopped being colonized a long time ago.”
In addition to ongoing cases ranging from broken medical implants to false automotive finance, Pogust Goodhead has discovered a niche of corporate misconduct in jurisdictions far away in courts, including the UK, Germany and the Netherlands.
The rationale for the BHP case is that the slow pace of Brazilian courts often risks delaying or denying justice. A British judge granted some lawsuits against the miners as BHP had a parent company in London at the time of the incident.
Gustavo Basso/Nur Photo via Getty Images, a man standing in front of his house damaged following the collapse of Mariana Dam.
“The recent series of jurisdictional decisions regarding group claims against London-based multinationals suggest that this trend continues,” said Ted Greeno, co-management partner of litigation powerhouse Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan.
“Law firms, big and small, can take advantage of these shifts with the right amount of funds,” he added.
Goodhead founded the company in Liverpool in 2018, and Harris Pougust is a US lawyer whose life in a jet set filled with mansions and yachts is well documented on Instagram. The outfit was the first major success in a data breaches against the British Airlines and Volkswagen Diesel emissions scandal.
The company, which has around 120 lawyers, has created a £200 million bonus pool and has pledged to pay junior lawyers up to £2 million each over three years.
According to Goodhead, Gramercy’s £450 million funding for the BHP case is the largest fund in the litigation finances of the claimant’s law firm.
Following the disaster of 2015, aerial views of the Bento Rodriguez district of Brazil’s Mariana © Ricardo Moraes/Reuters
However, according to former employees, high financial compensation comes with high demand. One lawyer added that the company had a “toxic culture” that encouraged “competition among colleagues.”
Another said they burned out in 17 hours. Former employees say the speed at which the company grew also means that some people have been promoted because they are not competent but are friendly to the goodhead.
“Working 17 hours and nights regularly reflects the reality of lawsuits against the world’s biggest companies,” Goodhead said.
He added: “I admit that our time is cruel, but the pressure associated with this nature of work is not for the faint of heart, but promoting someone who is kind to me is hilarious.
Protesters show that they support disaster victims outside London’s Royal Court in October © Peter Nicholls/Getty Images
Goodhead took on the BHP incident three years after the destructive rupture of a tailing dam containing waste at a Samarco mine near the town of Mariana. The resulting catastrophe ranked as Brazil’s worst environmental disaster in history.
Samarco’s joint control BHP and Brazilian Mines Veil have brought the compensation bill to about $300 billion, claiming that the lawsuit is not in the interests of the victims and that after signing a new $23 billion settlement with public authorities last year, it is no longer necessary.
Goodhead refuted that the New Deal was inadequate, noting that BHP said only 40% of London claimants are eligible for compensation.
“We started the case in 2018 because the companies weren’t doing anything,” he said. “My clients don’t trust a single word of what they said.”
The BHP case has sparked many other lawsuits at the Brazilian-born law firm.
That caseload includes residents who are forced to abandon their sinking city homes blamed for underground mining, and citrus growers who claim to have been torn apart by orange juice tycoons.
But there is no match for the costs or potential victory from the Mariana Incident, where the Pogust Goodhead bill runs north of £250 million.
The court victory would establish Gramercy and another supporter, Sao Paulo-based Prisma Capital. According to Goodhead, Gramercy has insurance to protect its capital. Under the litigation funding model, people based on costs reduce damages.
He calls Gramercy investment “a capitalist solution to the negative externalities of capitalism.”
Damaged House Following the Collapse of Samarco Dam ©Yasuyoshi chiba/afp
If BHP is found to be liable, the payment amount will be subject to another trial scheduled for October 2026, and the claimant must prove the loss. Vale has agreed to split the due date.
Pushbacks in Brazil are unforgiving. Opponents denounced the high payments to the city government, which Goodhead defended the move but signed it inappropriate for London’s claims. The Brazilian Supreme Court ruled that local governments cannot spend money from last year’s settlement to pay law firm fees.
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Goodhead described the company as “malicious and unfounded” in the complaint with the Brazilian Bar Association.
“This is a complete campaign of ongoing laws where they simply try to trust the case,” he said.
According to Goodhead, Pogust Goodhead recently employs around 160 people (mainly about 20% of its business service staff, primarily business service staff). However, around 30 other cases are active, and he said Mariana’s ruling is not existential.
“In the end, if we fail, it’s not going to end my company,” Goodhead said. “From a reputation perspective, from our financial position perspective, from a recruitment perspective, from a confidence perspective. That’s obviously very, very important.”
With the support of Beatrice Langela of Sao Paulo
