Pogust: I’ve had enough of this nonsense
Class action law firm Pogust Goodhead (PG) is to change its name after Harris Pogust demanded it do so and Thomas Goodhead turned up on the other side of its landmark Mariana Dam case.
It will be the fourth name for the practice since Mr Goodhead launched it in 2018 in Liverpool as SPG Law, before becoming PGMBM and then Pogust Goodhead.
A spokeswoman said: “Harris Pogust has had no involvement in the management or operation of this firm for approximately three years, and neither former founder has any role in running the business today.
“We intend to move away from the Pogust Goodhead name. The firm has moved on from its former leadership and its name should too.”
It emerged last week that Mr Goodhead, a barrister who was ousted last year as its boss, is leading efforts to wrestle control of the Mariana Dam case away from it.
Earlier this month, Bailey Glasser International (BGI) – a new joint venture between an English law firm run by former PG staff and US firm Bailey & Glasser – announced that the client committee had decided to change solicitors.
PG is challenging its authority to do this and an expedited hearing is due in early October.
Mr Pogust, a US lawyer, revealed that he had sent PG notice of his intention to file a cease and desist “to have my name removed from anything having to do with that firm”.
Writing on LinkedIn, he observed how reputation “can be destroyed in a second by the acts of others who you have no contact with, don’t talk to and don’t see”.
He continued: “Such was the feeling I began to feel as I watched what was playing out as the fight for control of the Mariana case began and continues.
“When a firm, which still has your name associated with it, files a claim form which named the firm’s clients as defendants and demands that they pay the firms costs and expenses if they switch firms, which [by the way] they have every right to do, the ‘I have had enough of this nonsense’ meter erupts.
“I have never in my 39 year career sued a client. The thought has actually never crossed my mind. You are suing someone you are asking the court to allow you to continue to represent? Someone who lost everything they owned and in some instances family members to the worst environmental disaster in the history of Brazil. Who earns what the average wage in Brazil is, just north of $10,000 a year and now this law firm, who you trusted with your heart and soul is threatening to sue you because you want to go to another firm? Am I missing something here?”
Mr Pogust said he was “embarrassed to have my name anywhere on that document” and apologised to “all of the people who were harmed by this disaster that I didn’t do this sooner and alleviate any confusion they may have had”.
He added that “if you have any doubt which firm I support moving forward you shouldn’t. I already let certain people know that I will work pro bono until the conclusion of this case to make sure that the clients get the best possible outcome possible.
“Am I mad just a little bit? You bet I am.”
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