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£2.7 Billion Competition Claim Filed Against Amazon, Funded by Innsworth

By Harry Moran |

Following on from the news LFJ reported earlier this month that Amazon was already facing one class action claim in the UK, we have now had confirmation that a second claim has been filed against the online retailing giant over allegations that it has engaged in anticompetitive behaviour.

An announcement from Geradin Partners reveals that a claim has today been filed against Amazon before the Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT), which alleges that Amazon’s anticompetitive practices discriminated against third-party sellers and harmed their businesses. The opt-out claim is valued in excess of £2.7 billion and is being brought by Professor Andreas Stephan, professor of competition law at the University of East Anglia, on behalf of more than 200,000 UK third-party sellers on Amazon who used a “professional” selling account on the site between June 2018 and June 2024.

The claim alleges that Amazon has engaged in a wide variety of anticompetitive abuses, including discriminating in favour of its own retail sellers and conditioning third-party sellers’ access to its Amazon Prime service to the use of its own Fulfilment by Amazon (FBA) logistics services. As a result of this conduct, the claim argues that these third-party sellers have been harmed through lost sales, as well as higher costs and paid fees to Amazon. 

Commenting on the announcement, Professor Stephan said: “Amazon has engaged in a variety of strategies to grow its e-commerce platform, lock sellers into it, prevent the expansion of rivals, and use its market dominance to exploit the hundreds of thousands of sellers in Britain that use its platform.” Damian Geradin, founding partner of Geradin Partners, explained that this opt-out claim “gives sellers the opportunity to seek redress for the significant harm they have suffered.”

In a post on LinkedIn, Damian Geradin confirmed that Innsworth Advisors Ltd. is providing litigation funding for the case.

Professor Stephan’s legal team is being led by Geradin Partners, alongside Kieron Beal KC of Blackstone Chambers, Daniel Carall-Green and Hannah Bernstein from Fountain Court Chambers. The claim is also being supported by advisors from Frontier Economics, and a consultative council that includes former Supreme Court president Lord Neuberger, Stephen Robertson, former Director General of the British Retail Consortium, and commercial litigation specialist Sue Prevezer KC.More information can be found on the claim website.

Almaden Announces Litigation Financing of up to $9.5 million

By Harry Moran |

Almaden Minerals Ltd. (“Almaden” or “the Company”; TSX: AMM; OTCQB: AAUAF) is pleased to announce that further to its press release of June 17, 2024, it has confirmed non-recourse litigation funding in the amount of up to US$9.5 million to pursue its international arbitration proceedings against the United Mexican States (“Mexico”) under the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (“CPTPP”). The Company has also agreed with Almadex Minerals Ltd. (“Almadex”) to an extension to the maturity of its gold loan, and a litigation management agreement to help streamline corporate management of the arbitration process.

  • Non-recourse funding secured to pursue international arbitration proceedings against Mexico;
  • Globally leading counterparty validates quality of legal claims;
  • Gold loan maturity pushed out from March 31, 2026 to March 31, 2030;
  • Litigation Management Agreement streamlines corporate management of the arbitration proceedings to save money and time.

Litigation Financing

The Company has signed a litigation funding agreement (“LFA”) with a leading legal finance provider. The facility is available for immediate draw down for Almaden to pursue damages against Mexico under the CPTPP resulting from Mexico’s actions which blocked the development of the Ixtaca project and ultimately retroactively terminated the Company’s mineral concessions, causing the loss of the Company’s investments in Mexico.

The LFA provides funding which is expected to cover all legal, tribunal and external expert costs of the legal claims, as well as some corporate operating expenses as may be required. The funding is repayable in the event that a damages award is recovered from Mexico, with such repayment being a contingent entitlement to those damages.

The financing follows extensive due diligence by the finance provider. The financing size as well as the quality of the provider is testament to the strength of the Company’s legal claims against Mexico.

Gold Loan Amendment

The Company is also pleased to report that it has agreed with Almadex to extend the maturity of the gold loan (see press release of May 14, 2019) from March 31, 2026 to the earlier of March 31, 2030 or the receipt by Almaden or its subsidiary of any amount relating to its legal claims against Mexico.

In return for this amendment, in addition to its obligation to repay the gold loan, the Company has agreed to pay Almadex 2.0% of the gross amount of any damages award that Almaden may receive as a result of the legal claims, such repayment to be subordinate to amounts due under the LFA, and any additional legal and management fees.

Litigation Management Agreement

Finally, the Company has agreed with Almadex and its Mexican subsidiary to streamline the management of the arbitration proceedings by entering into a Litigation Management Agreement (“LMA”). Under the LMA, Almaden will bear the up-front costs of the arbitration and provide overall direction to the arbitration process for itself and its subsidiaries, as well as Almadex and its subsidiaries, with certain limitations. Almadex will remain a party to the arbitration and continue in its cooperation and support of the process. As noted above, Almaden has already secured litigation funding in the amount anticipated to be needed to fully prosecute the arbitration proceedings.

Should the arbitration proceedings result in an award of damages, the pro rata portion of those damages, if any, which may be attributable to Almadex from the 2.0% NSR royalty it held on the Ixtaca project will be determined. Almadex’s award will consist of this pro rata portion, less its pro rata share of the costs of pursuing the legal claims, including the financing costs (the “Almadex Award”). Almadex will compensate Almaden in the amount of 10% of the Almadex Award in exchange for managing the claim proceedings.

Safe Harbor Statement

Certain of the statements and information in this news release constitute “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and “forward-looking information” within the meaning of applicable Canadian provincial securities laws. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, are forward-looking statements or information. Forward-looking statements or information in this news release relate to, among other things, the total potential cost of the legal claims and the sufficiency of the money available under the LFA to cover these costs, the ability of the LMA to streamline corporate management of the legal claims, and the result and damages arising from the Company’s request for arbitration.

These forward-looking statements and information reflect the Company’s current views with respect to future events and are necessarily based upon a number of assumptions that, while considered reasonable by the Company, are inherently subject to significant legal, regulatory, business, operational and economic uncertainties and contingencies, and such uncertainty generally increases with longer-term forecasts and outlook. These assumptions include: stability and predictability in Mexico’s response to the arbitration process under the CPTPP; stability and predictability in the application of the CPTPP and arbitral decisions thereon; the ability to continue to finance the arbitration process, and continued respect for the rule of law in Mexico. The foregoing list of assumptions is not exhaustive.

The Company cautions the reader that forward-looking statements and information involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results and developments to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements or information contained in this news release. Such risks and other factors include, among others, risks related to: the application of the CPTPP and arbitral decisions thereon; continued respect for the rule of law in Mexico; political risk in Mexico; crime and violence in Mexico; corruption in Mexico; uncertainty as to the outcome of arbitration; as well as those factors discussed the section entitled "Risk Factors" in Almaden's Annual Information Form and Almaden's latest Form 20-F on file with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission in Washington, D.C. Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could affect the Company and may cause actual actions, events or results to differ materially from those described in forward-looking statements or information, there may be other factors that cause actions, events or results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that our forward-looking statements or information will prove to be accurate. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements or information. Except as required by law, the Company does not assume any obligation to release publicly any revisions to on forward-looking statements or information contained in this news release to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.

Wordsmith Raises $5M to Empower Lawyers to Scale with AI

By Harry Moran |

Wordsmith, the AI-powered legal assistant platform, has raised $5 million to transform the legal industry and unleash a new generation of hyper-skilled legal professionals.

The seed funding was led by Index Ventures, with participation from General Catalyst and angel investors including Skyscanner founder Gareth Williams. The investment is a sign of how applied AI is rapidly augmenting and enabling professional services – a shift as profound as the transition to digital devices and word processing 40 years ago.

“AI is not about replacing professionals. It's about making them better at their jobs,” explains Wordsmith CEO Ross McNairn. “Just as the word processor didn't replace writers, but instead made them more productive, Wordsmith is ushering in a new era of AI-assisted professional services.”

Wordsmith is solving a critical problem faced by in-house legal teams: the overwhelming volume of routine tasks that leave lawyers struggling to keep up with the demands of the business. From confirming policy details to contract analysis and complex financing, the demand for human judgment and the consequences of oversight are high – yet many of the outputs are repeatable and templated. Wordsmith customers get 90% of the through-put of a world-class lawyer and a 99% cost reduction versus going to a law firm, all within 60 seconds.

Hannah Seal, the partner at Index Ventures who led the investment, says: “Wordsmith is at the vanguard of a fundamental shift in how professional services are delivered. It’s not about replacement but augmentation. By harnessing the power of generative AI, they're not only transforming the legal industry, but also paving the way for a future in which AI-assisted professionals can provide better, faster, and more affordable services to their clients.”

Wordsmith was founded in 2023 by Ross McNairn, Volodymyr Giginiak and Robbie Falkenthal. After training as a lawyer, McNairn sold his first startup to Skyscanner in 2016 and most recently was Chief Product and Technology Officer at Travelperk. CTO Giginiak, one of the first engineers at Meta in London who worked for a decade in key roles at Facebook and Instagram, was helping to implement anti-drone technology for the Ukrainian army before joining Wordsmith. Robbie Falkenthal, COO, is a qualified lawyer who has previously held senior roles at KPMG and Travelperk.For additional information regarding Wordsmith visit https://www.wordsmith.ai/ and follow on LinkedIn.

Nakiki SE: New Litigation Funding Agreement, Value in Dispute EUR 5 Million: Funding for Defendant

By Harry Moran |

Nakiki SE announces that Legal Finance International GmbH has concluded a litigation financing agreement with a value in dispute of up to EUR 5 million. This litigation financing agreement relates to funding for the defendant:

In selected individual cases, Legal Finance also finances the legal costs of the opposing party or defendant and, in the event of victory, receives twice the legal costs incurred as well as a staggered one-off payment as a premium. In this case, the premium can be up to EUR 785,000.

NAKIKI SE
Johnsallee 30
20148 Hamburg
Germany

Andreas Wegerich, CEO Nakiki

Armadillo Litigation Funding Welcomes Nicole Bakare, Esq. as New Managing Director

By Harry Moran |

Armadillo Litigation Funding, a premier and trusted alternative asset class litigation funding company, is pleased to announce the appointment of Nicole Bakare, Esq. as the new Managing Director. In this role, Ms. Bakare will enhance and expand the underlying credit offering of the company's platform and assist in monitoring current portfolios, contributing to the strategic growth and success of the firm and its clients.

Ms. Bakare joins Armadillo Litigation Funding from the Houston office of a large multinational law firm, where she represented corporate clients across a variety of industries in all phases of civil litigation, including state and federal courts, arbitration, and bankruptcy-related litigation. Her extensive experience and dedication to excellence make her a valuable addition to the Armadillo team.

"We are thrilled to have Nicole Bakare join our team," said Jeff Manley, Chief Operating Officer of Armadillo Litigation Funding. "Her legal expertise and strategic insight will be instrumental in driving our investment evaluation processes and enhancing our portfolio, ultimately benefiting the firms we serve by providing more effective and targeted funding solutions."

Ms. Bakare is a graduate of The University of Michigan and Tulane University Law School. She has been a member of the State Bar of Texas since 2006. Throughout her career, she has held prominent positions at Greenberg Traurig, LLP; Cozen O'Connor; Doyle, Restrepo, Harvin & Robbins LLP; and served as a briefing attorney to Justice Evelyn V. Keyes at the Court of Appeals for the First District of Texas.

Ms. Bakare expressed her enthusiasm about joining Armadillo Litigation Funding, stating, "I am honored to join Armadillo Litigation Funding, a firm renowned for its excellence and commitment to providing top-tier funding solutions in the complex litigation space," said Nicole Bakare. "I look forward to leveraging my experience to support our clients and help drive their success through strategic investment evaluation and dedicated service."

For more information about Armadillo Litigation Funding and its services, please visit www.armadillolf.com.

About Armadillo Litigation Funding: Armadillo Litigation Funding is a leading provider of alternative asset class funding in mass tort, consumer, and commercial litigation. Armadillo offers general obligation loans secured by the borrowers' interests in current and future awards, including, but not limited to, contingent fees.

Chambers & Partners Release its Litigation Support Guide for 2024

By Harry Moran |

The Chambers & Partners rankings provide an annual guide to the top firms in each region and practice area, as well as highlighting the established industry leaders alongside the rising stars to watch in these companies.

Today, Chambers & Partners released its Chambers Litigation Support Guide for 2024, which includes rankings for 337 individual practitioners and more than 376 firms, including practice areas such as litigation funding, forensic accounting, business intelligence and investigations, and PR and communications. 

In the Global-wide ranking covering litigation funding for international arbitration, Chambers ranked 11 firms across three bands. Burford Capital, Litigation Capital Management, Therium Capital Management, Fortress Investment Group, and Omni Bridgeway are listed in Band 1. Bench Walk Advisors, Harbour Litigation Funding, Parabellum Capital, and Nivalion are listed in Band 2. Profile Management and Tenor Capital Management are the two firms listed in Band 3.

The guide also contains regional litigation funding rankings for Australia, Canada, Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, South-East Asia, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Across several of these regions, the guide also provides rankings for litigation funding brokers, insurers, and underwriters.

A new addition to this year’s guide is the rankings for Litigation Finance Deal Counsel in the USA, with these rankings recognising ‘law firms advising on litigation funding agreements.’ This ranking includes Parker Poe Adams & Bernstein and Schulte Roth & Zabel in Band 1, with Levenfeld Pearlstein, Much Shelist, and McDonald Hopkins in Band 2.All the rankings can be accessed through the Chambers Litigation Support Guide hub.

Erso Capital Funding £382M Claim Against Salmon Producers’ Price-Fixing Cartel

By Harry Moran |

The funding of UK class action lawsuits appears to be once again gaining momentum, as following LFJ’s reporting last week on an £878 million opt-out claim brought against Royal Mail, there has now been the announcement of a new £382 million claim targeting some of the world’s largest salmon producers.

Reporting from The Guardian covers the filing of a new collective action proceeding order filed at the Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) last Thursday. This opt-out claim is being brought on behalf of UK consumers, and is targeting six salmon producers over allegations that they breached competition law by colluding to increase the price of farmed Atlantic salmon. The ‘salmon claim’ is seeking up to £382 million in compensation for consumers who bought these salmon products between October 2015 and May 2019. The salmon producers accused of forming this price-fixing cartel are: Mowi, Mowi Holdings, SalMar, Lerøy, Scottish Sea Farms and Grieg.

The claim has been filed by Waterside Class Limited, a company set up to bring this claim on behalf of UK consumers, with Anne Heal acting as the class representative. The claim is being represented by Simmons & Simmons, along with Sarah Abram KC and Matthew Kennedy of Brick Court Chambers, and Camilla Cockerill of 4 New Square Chambers. Waterside has also secured funding for the claim from Erso Capital, along with litigation insurance protection.

Heal, who previously led the Thames Water customer challenge group, said: “This action claims that some of the Atlantic salmon farming industry’s biggest companies have conspired to raid the wallets of hard-working shoppers. This action aims to seek fair redress for the millions of British consumers who we say spent years overpaying for one of the UK’s favourite and highly nutritious foods.”

Of the six salmon producers targeted in the claim, three did not provide a comment to The Guardian, Mowi denied that it had engaged in anti-competitive behaviour, whilst Grieg Seafood similarly denied any wrongdoing and stated they would “exercise all our rights of defence”. 

Salmar provided the most thorough response, with a spokesperson for the company stating: “SalMar is aware of the planned legal action on behalf of the UK consumers. SalMar disputes strongly the allegations of price fixing and notes that the European Commission has not reached any final decision on its investigation. SalMar contests all of these allegations and will defend vigorously any legal proceedings brought against it in the UK.”For information about the claim, read the press release from Waterside or visit the claim website.

Louisiana Governor Signs Litigation Funding Transparency Bill

By Harry Moran |

As LFJ reported earlier this month, the push for state-level regulation of the litigation finance industry has continued to make progress, with a bill in the Louisiana legislature now set to become law in just over a month. 

An article in Bloomberg Law covers the news that Louisiana’s governor Jeff Landry has signed Senate Bill 355 into law, which introduces new measures regulating the use of litigation finance in Louisiana. The bill primarily focuses on two areas of regulation: the disclosure of third-party litigation funding, and the involvement of foreign persons, states or wealth funds in third-party funding.

SB355 requires any foreign litigation funder involved in a civil action in Louisiana to disclose its details to the state’s attorney general (AG), and to provide the AG with a copy of the funding agreement. The bill also prohibits funders from controlling the legal action in any way, and from being ‘assigned rights in a civil action for which the litigation funder has provided funding’.

Gov. Landry signed the bill on June 19 and it will become effective from August 1. The full text of SB355 can be read here.

ILFA Seeking to Hire Director of Global Public Affairs and Executive Director

By Harry Moran |

In a series of posts on LinkedIn, the International Legal Finance Association (ILFA) announced that it is looking to fill two roles at the organisation: Director of Global Public Affairs and an Executive Director.

For the position of Director of Global Public Affairs, ILFA states that it is seeking ‘a motivated public affairs and policy professional looking to help facilitate the development and growth of the commercial legal finance industry and drive the success of ILFA’s priority areas’. The responsibilities for this role include: developing and implementing strategy to achieve ILFA’s policy objectives, facilitating discussions to increase education around legal finance, and managing ILFA’s external government affairs and communications consultants. The position is based in Washington, DC and will report to ILFA’s Board of Directors.

For the role of Executive Director, ILFA said that it is looking for ‘an experienced executive-level leader passionate about the intersection of law and finance who will work with top commercial legal finance companies and influential leaders’. The key responsibilities for the incoming director will include: driving ILFA’s membership growth and retention, expanding and maintaining ILFA’s funding sources and revenue streams, and organising ILFA’s industry events. The position is based in London, UK and will also report to ILFA’s Board of Directors.

The full job descriptions for each of the roles can be found at the following links: 

Director, Global Public Affairs 
Executive Director

In order to apply for either of these roles, applicants should submit a cover letter and resume to ILFA's Acting Executive Director Shannon Campagna at scampagna@ILFA.com before the deadline of July 31.