The constant expansion of land occupation leads to the eventual construction over soft clay layers, requiring the use of foundation piles and thus, greater understanding of the subsurface material and the interaction between the structures, especially in regards to the induced loads and displacements. Naturally, the loads from the overhead structure are transmitted to the foundation, causing it to suffer from the action of axial and transverse loads. In a foundation design, the consideration of transverse loads acting on the surface is not always sufficient, making it necessary to include the loads imposed along its length as well. This study depicts the case of a building in Ubatuba/SP that collapsed due to lateral stresses along the middle section of the piles, located close to the farthest site boundary where a thicker layer of soft clay can be found. This movement was analysed using four conventional methods (Tschebotarioff, De Beer and Wallays, Stewart and Goh), as well as a numerical method for 2D and 3D modelling on the Plaxis software. The conventional methods presented diverging results relative to each other, of which. However, all four methods produced results with orders of magnitude much greater than those obtained through numerical analysis. The bidimensional model showed that the spacing between piles in the out-of-plane axis is a factor of great influence and interferes in the simplifications of the 2D model. Another finding was a reduction of up to 50 percent of the acting bending moments when considering the group effect. The results from the 3D model were in agreement with those from the 2D model, exhibiting only a 2 percent difference. In general, a greater load on the piles closest to the farthest limit of the site was confirmed, located on the thickest clay layer that generated bending moments greater than those generated from the transverse load of the structure.