Court rules Client Committee could not collectively terminate PGMBM’s appointment or transfer claimants to Bailey Glasser International
London, 12 October, 2026 – The High Court has ruled that PGMBM remains the solicitor representing hundreds of thousands of Brazilian claimants in the Mariana litigation against mining giant BHP, rejecting an attempt by the Client Committee to collectively transfer their legal representation to Bailey Glasser International (BGI).
The ruling provides important clarity for victims of Brazil’s worst environmental disaster, resolving a period of uncertainty over legal representation as the Mariana litigation, one of the largest group actions in English legal history, enters a crucial stage.
The dispute arose after the Client Committee purported to terminate PGMBM’s appointment on behalf of the wider claimant group and appoint BGI in its place. The Court has now ruled that the Committee did not have contractual authority to make that decision collectively on behalf of the claimants and that the attempted Notice of Change did not transfer the relevant claimant group to BGI.
The representation proceedings concerned the scope of the powers given to the Client Committee under the contractual framework governing the litigation. PGMBM’s position was that the Committee was established to assist with the management of the litigation and communication of client instructions, but was not given authority to terminate the legal representation of hundreds of thousands of individual claimants collectively.
Importantly, the proceedings did not concern an individual client’s right to choose their own lawyer. PGMBM has consistently recognised that each client is free to make that decision individually. The question before the Court was whether the Committee could make that decision collectively on behalf of the wider claimant group.
In November 2025, the High Court found BHP liable in relation to the catastrophic collapse of the Fundão dam in Mariana, Minas Gerais, which killed 19 people and caused widespread environmental and economic devastation across the Rio Doce basin.
The litigation is now progressing towards Stage 2, with the trial currently scheduled to begin in April 2027.
Alicia Alinia, CEO of PGMBM:
“The Court has provided the clarity that hundreds of thousands of Mariana victims needed. PGMBM remains their solicitors in the proceedings, and the attempted collective transfer to BGI did not change that.
This was never about restricting an individual client’s freedom to choose their lawyer. The question was whether that choice could be made for hundreds of thousands of people collectively, without each of them making that decision for themselves.
Our clients did not create this dispute and should never have been caught in the uncertainty it created.
We can now return the focus to protecting the April 2027 trial and securing the compensation they have waited almost eleven years to receive.”
