Stay informed with updates and key industry developments shaping the global finance litigation landscape.

The American Legal Finance Association (ALFA) objects on behalf of its 30 members to the Case Management Order No. 61 issued by U.S. District Judge M. Casey Rodgers on August 29, 2023 in the 3M Combat Arms Earplug Product Litigation. The Order prohibits claimants in the Litigation from obtaining consumer legal funding without court approval and does not cite any applicable factual basis or legal precedent for such an order. The Order was issued without providing any due process to ALFA members whose funding contracts are in demand by claimants.

Westfleet Advisors, the leading U.S. litigation finance advisory firm, announced today that it has expanded its executive team with the addition of Wendie Childress as Managing Director and Counsel. Ms. Childress was most recently an Investment Advisor at commercial litigation funder Validity Finance, where she forged and deepened relationships throughout the U.S. legal market and advised parties seeking funding through all stages of the process. 

Silver Bull Resources Inc. (TSX: SVB, OTCQB: SVBL) (“Silver Bull” or the “Company”) is pleased to announce that it has secured funding for its international arbitration proceedings against the United Mexican States (“Mexico”) under the Agreement between the United States of America, Mexico, and Canada (the “USMCA”) and the North American Free Trade Agreement (“NAFTA”).

Delta Capital Partners Management, a global private equity firm specializing in litigation and legal finance, is pleased to announce that David Temporal has joined the company as its Chief Marketing Officer.  Temporal also will be a member of the firm’s Management Committee and its Investment Committee.

Litigation Capital Management Limited (AIM:LIT), a leading international alternative asset manager of disputes financing solutions, announces the outcome of the settlement reached in an Australian class action funded by it.

The Minnesota Supreme Court took a significant step to ensuring equal access to justice with their decision in Maslowski vs. Prospect Funding Partners LLC. yesterday, overturning the trial court and Court of Appeals holding and ruling unanimously that Consumer Litigation Funding is not subject to usury law as there is no absolute requirement to repay. In their decision, reversing the trial court and Court of Appeals, the Minnesota Supreme Court ruled that the repurchase rate in Prospect’s agreement was not subject to Minnesota’s usury statute. The American Legal Finance Association (ALFA) filed the only amicus curiae brief in this case on behalf of the interest of their members.

Omni Bridgeway Limited (ASX: OBL) (Omni Bridgeway, OBL, Group) has today released its results for the 12 months ended 30 June 2023 (FY23, Year).

Legal-Bay, The Pre Settlement Funding Company, announced today that Johnson & Johnson’s efforts to put a hold on the numerous lawsuits they are facing by filing bankruptcy have failed. Judge Kaplan ruled that the filing did not meet the requirements to qualify as a “good-faith” bankruptcy attempt, and was merely a way to seek protections against the billions of dollars the pharmaceutical giant will be expected to pay out in damages.

Legal-Bay, the Pre-Settlement Funding Company, announced an uptick in applications for settlement funding now that back-to-school season has begun. Now that summer is over and kids are heading back to school, many parents of college-aged children are faced with the added costs of tuition payments, textbooks, and travel expenses to-and-from campus, not to mention meals and housing once they get there.

Leading UK consumer law firm Slater and Gordon has agreed a £33 million committed facility with litigation funder and lender to law firms, Harbour, in what is believed to be one of the largest lending deals in the sector this year.

In a bid to decongest the Indian legal system, LegalPay, India’s largest litigation financier has launched an Online Dispute Resolution (ODR) wing called Bharat Dispute Resolution (BDR).

The Frankfurt-based litigation financing company LF Legal Finance SE, through its subsidiary Legal Finance International GmbH (Düsseldorf), has acquired an option to finance an international tort case with a value in dispute of up to EUR 1.0 million. If the case is financed and won, Legal Finance expects significant cash inflows.

Pegasus Legal Capital, LLC (“Pegasus”) (mylawfunds.com), one of the preeminent pre-settlement legal funding companies in the U.S., announced today that it has recently closed a senior debt transaction with East West Bank. This marks another significant capital market transaction for the company and proceeds from the transaction will enable Pegasus to continue its growth across the United States.

Ward and Smith is pleased to announce that litigation attorney Lynwood Evans has been appointed to the Plaintiffs’ Executive Committee in the litigation over contaminated water at Camp Lejeune. This appointment is particularly significant as we are quickly approaching the first anniversary of the Camp Lejeune Justice Act.

Legal-Bay, the Pre-Settlement Funding Company, reports that the Roman Catholic Diocese of Syracuse, New York has just announced a $100 million settlement for sexual abuse plaintiffs. With approximately 400 claimants, settlements average out to $250,000 per case, but some plaintiffs will receive more or less than that amount based on the severity of the abuse incurred.

Legal-Bay, The Pre Settlement Funding Company, announced today that they are now adding mesothelioma victims to their list of Johnson & Johnson talc plaintiffs. The pharmaceutical company just lost their most recent court case, resulting in a landmark $18 million verdict. Both J&J and plaintiffs/lawyers await the next steps in what has been a painfully slow process.

4 Rivers has a case which requires urgent funding. It is a RICO claim against a large insurance company, which has recently been found to be already engaging in serious misconduct, including a Punitive Damages award against it, and found vicariously liable for assisting arsonists.

Litigation Capital Management Limited (AIM:LIT), an alternative asset manager specialising in dispute financing solutions internationally, announces a positive development on an investment within its Fund I portfolio.

Burford Capital, the leading global finance and asset management firm focused on law, today releases its latest Burford Quarterly, a journal of legal finance that explores the top trends impacting the business of law.

Litigation Capital Management Limited (AIM:LIT), a leading alternative asset manager of disputes financing solutions, provides a market update for the twelve month period to 30 June 2023 (“FY2023”).

EJF Capital LLC (“EJF Capital”), a global alternative asset management firm, today announced the successful close of its fourth installment of litigation finance investment vehicles, Rocade Capital Fund IV LP and Rocade Capital Offshore Fund IV LP (the “Funds”) with approximately $220 million in investor subscriptions and commitments. Previously, EJF Capital and funds affiliated with Barings LLC, one of the world’s leading investment managers, formed a joint venture specialty finance company, Rocade LLC (“Rocade”), with $250 million of committed capital designed to invest alongside the Funds. The combined capital commitments raised across Rocade and the Funds totals approximately $470 million.

Lex Ferenda Litigation Funding LLC “LF2” recently launched two new initiatives in conjunction with its commercial funding operations. “LF2 University” or “LF2U” offers programming and content promoting education about litigation finance. Meanwhile, “LF2 Gives” serves as LF2’s philanthropic arm and corporate citizenship program, through which LF2 supports the local communities in which it works.

Funds managed by Foresight Group (“Foresight”), a leading, listed, sustainability-led alternative asset investment manager with £12 billion* of assets under management, have completed the acquisition of LionFish Litigation Finance Limited (“LionFish”) from AIM-listed professional services firm RBG Holdings Plc (“RBG”).

Aristata Capital is pleased to announce that it has secured nearly £52 million of capital at final closing for its first impact litigation fund, Aristata Impact Litigation Fund I LP (AILF I).

Omni Bridgeway is pleased to welcome Leora Ben-Ami and the Honorable Winifred Y. Smith (Ret.) to its Investment Committee. These nationally regarded legal industry professionals bring decades of experience and a wealth of knowledge to Omni Bridgeway’s investment process. Ms. Ben-Ami will leverage her extensive background in intellectual property to review and evaluate cases relevant to the company’s global IP portfolio. Judge Smith joins the US Investment Committee, where she will consider a variety of complex commercial cases.

European businesses and consumers could be left without access to a vital financing tool providing access to justice, experts warn today.

Manolete (AIM:MANO), the leading UK-listed insolvency litigation financing company, today announces its audited results for the year ended 31 March 2023. 

Burford Capital, the leading global finance and asset management firm focused on law, today releases new independent research on how in-house lawyers are adjusting their strategies in a period of sustained uncertainty. Businesses are seeking to manage risks and costs, and in turn, legal departments—and the outside law firms that work with them—have the opportunity to position themselves as part of the solution, with legal finance expected to play a role.