Feared global legal eagle set to make a big-money swoop on Australia's blue ... trends now
The crusading international lawyers who recently set up shop in Sydney have issued a dire warning to BHP shareholders as the mining giant faces a $70billion lawsuit.
Pogust Goodhead co-founder Thomas Goodhead made waves in Australia over his decision to open a Sydney office to pursue local high-return class actions.
'If I were a shareholder, I'd be extremely concerned about governance as well as the future financial liabilities that [BHP] face,' Mr Goodhead told ABC RN on Wednesday.
'They should be massively concerned because BHP has consistently failed to properly make contingencies in relation to the liabilities and the financial liabilities that they face.'
The firm is going head-to-head with BHP in the UK over the Samarco mine disaster in Brazil, which cost 19 people their lives and contaminated waterways and land spanning multiple villages.
In all, there are 700,000 claimants and the case could be worth $70billion in damages.
The crusading international lawyers who recently set up shop in Sydney have issued a warning to shareholders in mining giant BHP
Pogust Goodhead founders Thomas Goodhead and Harris Pogust proudly boast of their plans to make their lawyers some of the highest paid on the planet
Mr Goodhead said he and his partner, legal high-flyer Harris Pogust, 'absolutely' intend to launch new claims against Australian corporations.
'Until these companies stop committing environmental crimes, then there's a role for firms such as mine to be seeking to hold them to account,' he said.
Opposition legal affairs spokeswoman Michaelia Cash slammed 'predatory class action law firms', describing them as 'a direct threat to the economic well-being of businesses across Australia.
She singled out mining and resources companies as being the most vulnerable to the legal actions.
'We have seen conservative estimates that the value of claims made against Australian businesses in a single year, before a crackdown by the former Coalition Government, exceeded $10 billion dollars,' she said.
'This will only increase after the Albanese Government rolled back those tough reforms put in place in the previous Parliament.'
Mr Goodhead and Mr Pogust proudly boast of their plans to make their lawyers some of the highest paid on the planet.
Mr Pogust and his wife live the high life according to social media
Mr Goodhead visited Australia twice in 2023 to meet with MPs, unions and super funds over the litigation against BHP
They do so by specifically investing their time in high-return class actions, pocketing 50 per cent of the payouts which can - and have - been worth hundreds of millions of dollars.
Mr Goodhead visited Australia twice in 2023 to meet with MPs, unions and super
