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The Impact of Insurance on the Litigation Finance Market

The widespread adoption of insurance products within the litigation finance space has been one of the hot topics recently, as it opens the door to a range of opportunities for funders and LPs. IMN’s panel discussion on insurance explored how funders can use these products to lower their rates and hedge investments, the solutions available to de-risk and monetize litigation and arbitration, what is covered and how much coverage is needed, and more.

The panel consisted of Brandon Deme, Co-Founder and Director at Factor Risk Management, Sarah Lieber, Managing Director and Co-Head of the Litigation Finance Group at Stifel, Megan Easley, Vice President of Contingent Risk Solutions at CAC Specialty, and Jason Bertoldi, Head of Contingent Risk Solutions at Willis Tower Watson. The panel was moderated by Stephen Davidson, Managing Director and Head of Litigation and Contingent Risk at Aon.

The discussion began with the products on offer. Those include judgement preservation insurance (JPI), where a judgement has been reached and the client is looking to insure the core value of that judgement.  Insurers can also protect portfolios of judgements, or even pre-judgement, for example if there is a substantial amount of IP that is expected to generate value, that can also be insured. On the defense-side, clients can use products to insulate them from liability and ring-fence their exposure and damages.

ATE is one of the earliest products available in the market—going on 20-25 years now. This applies to adverse costs regimes, which is a huge risk to third-party funders who have to assume that risk, given that they put up the capital. As a result, many funders are approaching insurers looking for ATE insurance.  Some less well-known reasons for procuring insurance include enabling one firm to purchase another firm’s docket, which makes the transaction more attractive to the purchasing party. There is also the opportunity to insure against the risk of a specific motion—in one example, Sarah Lieber of Stifel pointed to a case where the likelihood of a certain motion being adverse to the claimant was less than 1%, but the client wanted a ‘sleep well at night’ type of insurance. The insurer was thrilled to write it, obviously, and from the claimant’s perspective, it was a minimal capital output which protected against a low probability event that would have a devastating outcome if it came to fruition.

The good news is that these policies are intended to be very straightforward. For example, JPI is supposed to be a math problem: at final adjudication of a case, you’re supposed to have X. If you don’t, insurance will cover a portion of the rest. Portfolio insurance will include a duration element, but it’s still relatively straightforward. This is not mortgage insurance—these agreements are 10 pages long. The policies are designed to be simple. Typically, the only exclusion is for fraud, as that is what insurers are most concerned about.

Perhaps that is one reason they are so popular. Speaking on the London ATE market specifically, Brandon Deme, of Factor Risk Management noted, “The insurance market is expanding. We’ve got insurers that can go up to $25MM in one single investment. When you put that together with the six to seven insurers who are active in the space, you can insure over $100MM. And that wasn’t possible just a few years ago.”

The discussion then turned to how we can engender more cooperation between insurers and litigation funders, given that the two parties are at odds on issues relating to disclosure and regulatory requirements.

Jason Bertoldi of Willis Tower Watson noted that almost every carrier who offers this product will have some sort of interaction with funders, either directly or indirectly. And while there is opposition to litigation funding from insurers around frivolous litigation and ethical concerns, there are similarly concerns amongst insurers around adverse selection and information asymmetry. So the insurance industry has to get more comfortable with litigation finance, and vice versa.

“The funders that we’ve worked with that have looked to insure their investments directly, they’ve been succeeded because by being very transparent in what they provide,” said Bertoldi. “And they’ve dedicated a lot of time to getting insurance done, making sure all litigation counsel is involved on the underwriting side. Doing that, and making sure all information is on a level playing field makes the process go a lot better.”

Sarah Lieber took this opportunity to highlight the importance of treating an insurer as a valuable partner, rather than as a means of shifting risk. “We use insurance for financial structuring and accounting, more so than shifting risk,” Lieber noted, “because shifting risk—you’ll do that once, and you’ll never be a participant again in this market. Insurers aren’t stupid, if you give them a pile of crap, they’ll remember you for it.”

Megan Easley CAC Specialty pointed out that capacity is a challenge on some risks right now.  The market caps out around $300-$400MM. And while it is very unlikely that there will be total loss risk, insurance in general is very conservative, so there is a gradual shift towards the idea of a total loss. Brandon Deme added that it’s about having the right capacity as well.  You want your insurer to pay the client if everything goes wrong. Some insurers go broke, so having the right capacity is key.

One final point from Jason Bertoldi highlighted what he felt is the “most important, and perhaps most unexamined phenomenon happening in our industry,” which he believes is contingent risk. “A lot of carriers are dabbling in contingent risk, who aren’t super active in the space, and they are really trying to get involved,” Bertoldi explained. “Many carriers are hiring dedicated personnel to do contingent risk, because they have the appetite but not the expertise to handle that. That will change over the course of the year as new underwriters come into the space with a litigation background.”

In the end, these are two markets—insurance and litigation finance—that must grow comfortable with one another. Insurers are looking for funders who want cheaper capital, or are looking to offload concentration risk, and must be assured that funders aren’t simply shifting the riskiest cases in their investment portfolio over to the insurance side of the equation.

For more on insurance and litigation funding, register for our complimentary digital event: Litigation Finance and Legal Insurance. This hour-long, audio-only event will be held on Wednesday, June 14th at 11am ET, and will feature key stakeholders across the insurance space who will discuss the interplay of insurance and legal claims in greater detail. All registrants will receive a recording of the event as well.

 

*Editor’s Note: A previous version of this article suggested that Brandon Deme’s comment on the size of the Legal Insurance market was in relation to the US market, where there is over $750m in available insurance capacity across two to three dozen insurers.  Mr. Deme was speaking specifically to the London ATE market. That correction has been made. We regret the error. 

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Announcements Commercial Regulatory Issues

More Than 100 Companies Sign Letter Urging Third-Party Litigation Funding Disclosure Rule for Federal Courts Ahead of October Judicial Rules Meeting

By Harry Moran |

In the most significant demonstration of concern for secretive third-party litigation funding (TPLF) to date, 124 companies, including industry leaders in healthcare, technology, financial services, insurance, energy, transportation, automotive and other sectors today sent a letter to the Advisory Committee on Civil Rules urging creation of a new rule that would require a uniform process for the disclosure of TPLF in federal cases nationwide. The Advisory Committee on Civil Rules will meet on October 10 and plans to discuss whether to move ahead with the development of a new rule addressing TPLF.

The letter, organized by Lawyers for Civil Justice (LCJ), comes at a time when TPLF has grown into a 15 billion dollar industry and invests funding in an increasing number of cases which, in turn, has triggered a growing number of requests from litigants asking courts to order the disclosure of funding agreements in their cases. The letter contends that courts are responding to these requests with a “variety of approaches and inconsistent practices [that] is creating a fragmented and incoherent procedural landscape in the federal courts.” It states that a rule is “particularly needed to supersede the misplaced reliance on ex parte conversations; ex parte communications are strongly disfavored by the Code of Conduct for U.S. Judges because they are both ineffective in educating courts and highly unfair to the parties who are excluded.”

Reflecting the growing concern with undisclosed TPLF and its impact on the justice system, LCJ and the Institute for Legal Reform (ILR) submitted a separate detailed comment letter to the Advisory Committee that also advocates for a “simple and predictable rule for TPLF disclosure.”

Alex Dahl, LCJ’s General Counsel said: “The Advisory Committee should propose a straightforward, uniform rule for TPLF disclosure. Absent such a rule, the continued uncertainty and court-endorsed secrecy of non-party funding will further unfairly skew federal civil litigation. The support from 124 companies reflects both the importance of a uniform disclosure rule and the urgent need for action.”

The corporate letter advances a number of additional reasons why TPLF disclosure is needed in federal courts:

Control: The letter argues that parties “cannot make informed decisions without knowing the stakeholders who control the litigation… and cannot understand the control features of a TPLF agreement without reading the agreement.” While many funding agreements state that the funder does not control the litigation strategy, companies are increasingly concerned that they use their growing financial leverage to exercise improper influence.

Procedural safeguards: The companies maintain that the safeguards embodied in the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (FRCP) cannot work without disclosure of TPLF.  One example is that courts and parties today are largely unaware of and unable to address conflicts between witnesses, the court, and parties on the one hand, and non-parties on the other, when these funding agreements and the financial interests behind them remain largely secret.

Appraisal of the case: Finally, the letter reasons that the FRCP already require the disclosure of corporate insurance policies which the Advisory Committee explained in 1970 “will enable counsel for both sides to make the same realistic appraisal of the case, so that settlement and litigation strategy are based on knowledge and not speculation.” The companies maintain that this very same logic should also require the disclosure of TPLF given its growing role and impact on federal civil litigation.

Besides the corporate letter and joint comment, LCJ is intensifying its efforts to rally companies and practitioners to Ask About TPLF in their cases, and to press for a uniform federal rule to require disclosure. LCJ will be launching a new Ask About TPLF website that will serve as a hub for its new campaign later this month.

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Commercial People Moves

Mesh Capital Hires Augusto Delarco to Bolster Litigation Finance Practice

By Harry Moran |

In a post on LinkedIn, Mesh Capital announced the hiring of Augusto Delarco who has joined the Brazilian firm as a Senior Associate, bringing a “solid and distinguished track record in complex litigation and innovative financial solutions” to help develop Mesh Capital’s Litigation Finance and Special Situations practices. 

The announcement highlighted the experience Delarco would bring to the team, noting that throughout his career “he has advised clients, investors, and asset managers on strategic cases and the structuring of investments involving judicial assets.”

Delarco joins Mesh Capital from Padis Mattars Lawyers where he served as an associate lawyer, having previously spent six years at Tepedino, Migliore, Berezowski and Poppa Laywers.

Mesh Capital is based out of São Paulo and specialises in special situations, legal claims and distressed assets. Within litigation finance, Mesh Capital focuses on “the acquisition, sale and structuring of legal claims, covering private, public and court-ordered credit rights.”

Case Developments Commercial

Delaware Court Denies Target’s Discovery Request for Funding Documents in Copyright Infringement Case

By Harry Moran |

A recent court opinion in a copyright infringement cases has once again demonstrated that judges are hesitant to force plaintiffs and their funders to hand over information that is not relevant to the claim at hand, as the judge denied the defendant’s discovery request for documents sent by the plaintiff to its litigation funder.

In an article on E-Discovery LLC, Michael Berman analyses a ruling handed down by Judge Stephanos Bibas in the United States District Court for the District of Delaware, in the case of Design With Friends, Inc. v. Target Corporation. Design has brought a claim of copyright infringement and breach of contract, and received funding to pursue the case from Validity Finance. As part of its defense, Target had sought documents from the funder relating to its involvement in the case, but Judge Bibas ruled that Target’s request was both “too burdensome to disclose” and was seeking “information that is attorney work product”.

Target’s broad subpoena contained five requests for information including Validity’s valuations of the lawsuit, communications between the funder and plaintiff prior to the funding agreement being signed, and information about the relationship between the two parties.

With regards to the valuations, Judge Bibas wrote that “while those documents informed an investment decision, they did so by evaluating whether a lawsuit had merit and what damages it might recover,” which in the court’s opinion constitutes “legal analysis done for a legal purpose”. He went on to say that “if the work-product doctrine did not protect these records,” then the forced disclosure of these documents “would chill lawyers from discussing a pending case frankly.”

Regarding the requests for information about the relationship between Design and Validity, Judge Bibas was clear in his opinion that these requests were disproportionately burdensome. The opinion lays out clear the clear reasoning that “Target already knows that Validity is funding the suit and that it does not need to approve a settlement”, and with this information already available “Further minutiae about Validity are hardly relevant to whether Target infringed a copyright or breached a contract years before Validity entered the picture.”The full opinion from Judge Bibas can be read here.