The Singapore International Commercial Court has upheld an arbitral tribunal's refusal to award third-party funding costs, rejecting arguments that denying such recovery offends public policy or amounts to a procedural failing reviewable under the Model Law.

As reported by the Wolters Kluwer Arbitration Blog, the decision in *DTH and another v DTF and others* [2026] SGHC(I) 5 arose from a joint venture dispute arbitrated under the SIAC Rules. The tribunal awarded the applicants approximately US$14.7 million but declined to award roughly US$14.6 million in funding costs, leaving them with minimal net recovery.

The applicants advanced two grounds. The first was that refusing funding costs conflicted with Singapore's public policy of promoting access to justice for impecunious parties. The court disagreed, holding that access to justice framed that narrowly does not rise to the level of public policy, and noting that Singapore's own SICC Rules expressly prohibit the recovery of third-party funding costs. A domestic rule barring recovery makes it difficult to characterise the same outcome in arbitration as contrary to national policy.

The second ground was that the tribunal had failed to comply with the agreed arbitral procedure. The court held that costs determinations fall outside the scope of procedural review under the Model Law, because they are substantive outcomes rather than questions of process. Framing an unfavourable costs result as a procedural defect does not convert it into a reviewable one.

On the underlying analysis, the tribunal had excluded the funding costs because certain fees were calculated as a percentage of the resolution amount rather than by reference to the principal advanced, placing them outside the statutory definitions governing third-party funding.

The ruling underscores that funders and funded parties in Singapore-seated arbitration cannot assume recovery of funding costs, and that how a funding agreement structures its return may determine whether those costs are recoverable at all.

Pogust Goodhead has publicly rejected the decision to replace it as solicitors for claimants in the multi-billion pound group action against BHP, arguing that the client committee that voted to terminate its retainer had no authority to do so and warning that the move puts claimants' costs protection at risk.

As reported by Legal Futures, the dispute follows the appointment of Bailey Glasser International (BGI) to take over conduct of *Município de Mariana and others v BHP Group (UK) Ltd*, the claim brought for more than 420,000 Brazilian claimants arising from the 2015 collapse of the Fundão Dam.

BGI said its "priority is continuity for the claimants," adding that it "does not expect the change of legal representation to have any significant effect on the overall litigation timetable" and acknowledging "the work done by Pogust Goodhead in bringing the case to the High Court in London and securing the landmark ruling on liability."

Pogust Goodhead disagrees. The firm said the "client committee has no authority to terminate Pogust Goodhead's representation on behalf of the wider group of claimants in the proceedings," and that it "remains the solicitor of record and continues to act in claimants' best interests." It described the litigation as continuing "as normal."

The firm's sharpest warning concerns after-the-event insurance, which was secured through Pogust Goodhead on the basis that it acted in the matter. By moving to displace it, the firm said, "the committee risks placing claimants' costs protection in jeopardy and exposing them to significant financial liabilities."

The commercial backdrop is substantial. Pogust Goodhead announced a partnership with Quinn Emanuel in June 2026, alongside $150 million in funding from Gramercy Funds Management arranged through the two firms for the next stage of the litigation. BGI is a joint venture between Edward McCourt & Company — owned by former Pogust Goodhead senior partner Jeremy Evans — and US firm Bailey & Glasser, with Hausfeld & Co supporting in London. Partners Faranak Ghajavand and Callum Walters previously worked at Pogust Goodhead.

Liability was established at the Stage One trial in November 2025 and can no longer be challenged after the Court of Appeal refused BHP permission to appeal in May 2026. Evidence in the Stage Two trial on causation and quantum is listed from April to December 2027, with closing submissions in March 2028.