Pogust Goodhead has told the High Court it wants out of the driver’s seat in the diesel emissions group action, a case so large it needs its own traffic management plan. The firm represents roughly 750,000 of the 1.8 million claims lodged against 14 manufacturers over alleged cheating on diesel emissions, but now wants Leigh Day to carry the lead-solicitor load alone with trial due to start next week, according to a report in the Financial Times.
Why the late swerve. In August, the firm’s funder, US hedge fund Gramercy, pushed out co-founder and former chief executive Tom Goodhead and installed a new board. Since then, senior lawyers tied to the emissions case have walked.
Pete Gallagher, who had been steering the litigation, resigned, and at least four more lawyers followed, according to material aired at a pre-trial hearing. Counsel for Renault said a critical cohort was “abandoning the ship.”
The defendants are unimpressed. Ford’s silk told the court the posture is in “total flux,” which is code for please stop rearranging counsel teams on the court steps. They argue that swapping lead roles now risks blowing up case management.
Pogust Goodhead’s position is that there is no legal or ethical requirement for it to stand aside, but the manufacturer defendants are trying to weaponise the firm’s internal ructions.
The firm says stepping back from the lead is intended to keep the sprawling litigation on the rails, not off them, and it will continue to act for its clients regardless.
The court was told the firm secured a fresh 30 million dollar facility from Gramercy last month limited to the emissions case, on top of a 65 million dollar line in August. Since 2023 the funder has poured in more than 600 million dollars to the firm.
That level of financial control is exactly why the independence rules in England and Wales exist. Lawyers owe duties to clients and the court, not to lenders with spreadsheets.
Meanwhile, the emissions litigation remains one of the most complex actions to hit the Rolls Building. The claim value has not been nailed down, but claimant lawyers say the potential bill runs to several billions.
Elsewhere on the docket, a judgment is expected this year in the firm’s separate mass-claim against miner BHP over the Mariana dam collapse, where BHP and Vale floated a 1.4 billion dollar offer to settle.
Pogust Goodhead’s new chief executive, Alicia Alinia, (pictured) insists the firm remains independent and committed to access to justice. The immediate question for the UK court is simpler – do they let Leigh Day carry the lead alone, or does this litigation stay two-handed despite the musical chairs. Either way, trial is upon them, and the court’s patience is not a bottomless resource.
