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Category: Litigation Funding

In Litigation Over Litigation Funding Matters, Court Rules that CFPB’s Structure Is Unconstitutional

In Litigation Over Litigation Funding Matters, Court Rules that CFPB’s Structure Is Unconstitutional

The structure of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is unconstitutional, and therefore claims of federal law violations against a litigation funding company fail. So ruled a U.S. District Court judge in a lawsuit brought by the CFPB and the New York Attorney General against a litigation funding company over, for one, the litigation funding company’s dealings with former National Football League players and, for another, the company’s transactions with individuals who suffered injuries as a result of the September 11,…

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U.S. Chamber of Commerce: Litigation Financing Means More Lawsuits, Prolonged Proceedings, Fewer Settlements

U.S. Chamber of Commerce: Litigation Financing Means More Lawsuits, Prolonged Proceedings, Fewer Settlements

The President of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce has penned an opinion piece stating that litigation financing “leads to more lawsuits, undercuts plaintiffs’ control of a case, and unnecessarily prolongs litigation.” Lisa Rickard’s op-ed article quoted recent news reports about how litigation funders have said they “make it harder and more expensive to settle cases.” She praised the recently-enacted Wisconsin legislators who passed “the first state law requiring transparency for all third-party funding arrangements” and said that Congress should recognize…

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New York Legislation Would Regulate Litigation Funding Deals

New York Legislation Would Regulate Litigation Funding Deals

New York’s legislature is considering legislation that would regulate consumer litigation funding transactions. The New York Law Journal reported this week that “[t]hird-party litigation financing is getting closer scrutiny in New York, where lawmakers are pushing to regulate an industry in which companies have been accused of charging unreasonably high fees and interest rates.” The May 29 article, NY Lawmakers Considering Bills to Regulate Consumer Litigation Funding, is available here.  

In Seeking To Recover Money Paid To Claimant, Litigation Funding Company Prevails On Some Legal Grounds

In Seeking To Recover Money Paid To Claimant, Litigation Funding Company Prevails On Some Legal Grounds

It is a legal maxim that when a contract is illegal, courts will leave the parties where they find them.  The result is that, if a party to a contract tries to recover on the contract, it will not get any aid from the courts.  But what if the claim is not enforcement of the illegal contract, but a request for recovery of monies paid pursuant to the unenforceable contract – on an equitable theory of unjust enrichment?  There, the…

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Judge Overseeing Consolidated Opioid Litigation Wants Litigation Funding Information

Judge Overseeing Consolidated Opioid Litigation Wants Litigation Funding Information

The judge overseeing the multi-district litigation claims involving the opioid epidemic has ordered plaintiffs’ attorneys to disclose whether they have entered into any litigation funding agreements. U.S. District Court Judge Dan Polster, of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio, is overseeing several hundred consolidated lawsuits where many government entities – including states and cities – have sought recovery from drugmakers and distributors for the costs of dealing with opioid addiction.  Plaintiffs have claimed that the pharmaceutical…

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Kansas Appeals Court Says Suspended Lawyer Did Not Demonstrate an Interest to Justify Intervention – But If He Had, It Would Have Been Barred By the Public Policy Against Champerty

Kansas Appeals Court Says Suspended Lawyer Did Not Demonstrate an Interest to Justify Intervention – But If He Had, It Would Have Been Barred By the Public Policy Against Champerty

A Kansas appellate court affirmed a lower court decision to reject the motion to intervene of a suspended lawyer to intervene in a personal injury case, saying that the same Kansas public policy against champerty would have barred his interest – if he had demonstrated a sufficient interest to justify intervention.  In Massali v. Farmers Ins. Co., No. 117464 (Kan. Ct. App. Apr. 18, 2018), the Kansas appellate court summed up the case as follows: Maria E. Massali was injured…

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Wisconsin Enacts First-In-Nation Law Requiring Disclosure of Litigation Funding Agreements

Wisconsin Enacts First-In-Nation Law Requiring Disclosure of Litigation Funding Agreements

Civil litigants  in Wisconsin state court will have to disclose any litigation funding agreements under a bill signed into law by that state’s Governor Scott Walker earlier this month. It’s the first state law of its kind, according to published reports. The law revises the state’s requirements for discovery in civil litigation. A National Law Journal article about the new law is available (behind subscription wall) here and a press release from U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Institute for Legal Reform is…

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NFL Concussion Settlement: Judge Orders Attorneys Seeking Fees To Disclose Information About Litigation Funding Company Agreements

NFL Concussion Settlement: Judge Orders Attorneys Seeking Fees To Disclose Information About Litigation Funding Company Agreements

U.S. District Court Judge Anita B. Brody – who oversees the settlement of the National Football League players’ concussion injury settlement – wants information from attorneys who are seeking to collect attorneys’ fees for representing ex-player clients. Among the facts that she wants from those attorneys is whether they, or their law firms, have entered into litigation funding agreements. Judge Brody in December declared such agreements invalid.  See “Judge Overseeing Concussion Settlement Invalidates Litigation Funding Agreements With NFL Players“. One…

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Litigants May Waive Privilege By Sharing Protected Information with Funding Companies, Says Author of Article

Litigants May Waive Privilege By Sharing Protected Information with Funding Companies, Says Author of Article

What happens if a potential claimant shares privileged information with a litigation funding company, before the claimant signs any agreement with the company? Typically, the claimant waives the privilege. But there may be no waiver if the parties first sign a litigation funding agreement – the key word being “may”. Those are some of the points from an article, “Sharing Protected Information With Potential Litigation Funders“, in the Spring 2018 issue of Today’s General Counsel magazine.  (A link to the…

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Illinois Court: No Full Faith and Credit for Default Judgment, and Litigation Funding Agreement Was Unenforceable on Champerty Grounds

Illinois Court: No Full Faith and Credit for Default Judgment, and Litigation Funding Agreement Was Unenforceable on Champerty Grounds

An Illinois court need not give full faith and credit to a Minnesota default judgment, and need not give effect to parts of a litigation funding agreement that was unenforceable, on champerty grounds, based on controlling Minnesota law. That was the ruling of an Illinois appellate court, in Prospect Funding Holdings v. Saulter, No. 1-17-1277, 2018 Ill. App. LEXIS 126 (Ill. App. Ct. Mar. 13, 2018), which involved claims by a litigation funding company against an attorney for a wrongful…

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