BHP gets fillip from Brazil as $70b UK class action looms

Hans van LeeuwenEurope correspondent

Oct 16, 2024 – 4.07pm

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London | BHP has received a last-minute fillip in its stoush with British law firm Pogust Goodhead, whose $70 billion class action targeting the miner over a catastrophic 2015 Brazilian dam collapse will begin in an English courtroom on Monday.

Brazil’s Supreme Court this week issued a ruling that casts doubt on the legality of Pogust Goodhead’s contracts with almost 50 Brazilian municipal councils that were caught up in the Samarco disaster and are among the class action’s biggest claimants.

Hans van Leeuwen covers British and European politics, economics and business from London. He has worked as a reporter, editor and policy adviser in Sydney, Canberra, Hanoi and London.