Gramercy-Backed Law Firm Keeps Control of Mariana Dam Claim After UK Court Rejects Ouster
The ruling leaves NorthWall Capital, the firm’s former funder now reported to be backing the rival legal team, on the losing side of a contest over roughly 400,000 claimants.
October 13, 2026
A London judge has ruled that the client committee in the Mariana dam group action had no power to fire PGMBM, the class action firm formerly known as Pogust Goodhead. The decision preserves the position of the firm's litigation funder, Gramercy Funds Management, in one of the largest damages claims ever brought before the English courts.
Mr Justice Waksman ruled orally in the High Court on October 12. He found that the committee lacked the authority to terminate the firm's collective conditional fee agreements and litigation management agreements, or to instruct new solicitors. PGMBM remains on the record for roughly 400,000 claimants suing BHP over the 2015 collapse of the Fundão dam in Brazil. The judge refused permission to appeal, and a full written judgment has not yet been published.
Two Funders, One Claim
The fight began in late August, when a 17-member client committee voted to replace the firm with Bailey Glasser International (BGI). BGI is a joint venture between US firm Bailey & Glasser and an English firm run by former Pogust Goodhead staff, among them ousted co-founder Tom Goodhead. Hausfeld signed on as BGI's co-counsel.
The dispute also set two private credit investors against each other:
- Gramercy became the firm's primary funder through a 2023 financing deal. In June it agreed a facility of up to $150 million dedicated solely to the Mariana case, with $85 million to be provided initially, alongside a partnership with Quinn Emanuel for the damages phase.
- NorthWall Capital financed the firm's work on the case until Gramercy's 2023 deal refinanced that investment. It has been reported to be funding the BGI team.
What Was at Stake for Claimants
PGMBM argued that the committee, which is not appointed by the court, could not on its own transfer the individual contracts of hundreds of thousands of claimants. It warned that the switch put claimants' costs protection at risk, and its counsel estimated their collective exposure at more than £2 billion. The firm also said the after-the-event insurance and funding behind the claim could not simply move with the case to a new firm.
The committee argued it acted as the claimants' representative agent, and it had raised concerns about how the litigation was being managed and resourced. Its solicitors, Humphries Kerstetter, said it would study the judgment before deciding on next steps. BGI said the committee would weigh its options with its advisers. The ruling does not prevent individual claimants from changing firms on their own.
The Next Phase
BHP was found liable last November, and the Court of Appeal has since refused the company permission to appeal. A second-stage trial on causation, loss and damages is set to hear evidence from April to December 2027, with closing submissions in March 2028. A third stage, in which claimants would prove individual damages, may follow.
For investors in litigation finance, the outcome turned on the contracts governing who could direct the claim, not on the merits of the case against BHP.
