Law firm at centre of BHP mammoth lawsuit sued by its own funder
City law firm Pogust Goodhead is facing an £84m lawsuit from its own funder over a dispute related to its high-profile case: the record-breaking group action against mining giant BHP.
The firm, formerly known as PGMBM, recently secured a major victory in one of the largest legal actions ever heard in the English courts. Last November, the High Court found BHP liable for the 2015 dam disaster in Brazil, which killed 19 people. The next phase of the trial, focusing on causation and loss, is set to begin in April 2027.
The investment firm provided 90.09m Brazilian Reais (£12.8m) for the firm’s legal action against BHP.
In this new lawsuit, Brazilian financial services firm Vinci SPS Capital Gestão de Recursos Ltda alleges that Pogust Goodhead breached its obligations by agreeing to disburse litigation proceeds to barristers and after-the-event (ATE) insurers without first obtaining its lenders’ required consent.
At the heart of the dispute is a £42.7m interim payment for costs that Pogust Goodhead has received into its client account. According to the claim form filed with the High Court seen by Morning Wire, Vinci SPS claims Pogust Goodhead is legally required to transfer these funds into a designated receivables account, but has failed to do so.
The law firm allegedly delayed opening the required receivables account for over four and a half years.
The legal document also noted that Pogust Goodhead claims it cannot transfer the funds out of its client account until it issues an invoice to the claimants, and asserts it cannot issue that invoice until it discharges a trust in favour of its ATE insurers. But Vinci SPS said it rejected this position and stated that its rights take priority over any trusts in favour of the ATE insurers.
The Brazilian company launched legal action through law firm Fieldfisher, seeking to claim over £84m, plus nearly £600,000 in legal costs for pre-action correspondence and a prior injunction application. The court system shows that Pogust Goodhead has instructed DAC Beachcroft to defend it.
Pogust Goodhead was contacted for comment.
Not its first legal hurdle
Gramercy Funds Management is a US investment firm that partnered with the international law firm Pogust Goodhead in October 2023 for a record-breaking $552.5m (£450m) litigation funding deal. The investment business later added an extra $150m facility in June 2026 to support group actions, reportedly as it was going through internal turmoil.
This comes as Morning Wire reported that the firm was sued for £2.2m in May 2025 over alleged unpaid legal bills by another law firm, Seladore Legal. Seladore worked on two retainers for Pogust Goodhead but alleged in the claim that it had not been paid any of the outstanding bills.