News and analysis dedicated to the consumer legal funding sector including mass torts, regulatory issues, case developments, funding activities, and more.

Fintech credit professional Rob Cottingham has been appointed to Chief Credit Officer at ME Group, a Cheadle-based firm. Cottingham takes on this new role that will report to executive chairman Bruce Walker—who is also new to the business. These appointments herald a new phase in a long-term growth strategy for the company, as it moves toward becoming a leader in consumer litigation funding.

Non-recourse funding is the backbone of the Litigation Finance model. It’s what exempts the practice from usury laws and allows funders to charge higher interest rates than other lenders. An as-yet-unpublished article suggests that funders actually made higher profits from individual car accident claims than from mass tort cases. That is to say, cases where a small number of people are injured or killed made more money for funders than large cases with multiple impacted parties.

Sean Callagy’s law firm, Callagy Law, has been involved in several contentious lawsuits in recent months, in part due to defaulting on loans from Legal Capital Group. The LCG agreement was made with George Prussin, an old friend of Callagy. Their friendship fell apart after several professional differences that became litigious.

On June 11th, Litigation Finance Journal held a special digital conference on Covid’s impact on the Consumer Legal Funding industry. The panel discussion was moderated by Dan Avnir, Managing Director at Bryant Park Capital. Panelists included Eric Schuller, President of the Alliance for Responsible Consumer Legal Funding (ARC), Kevin Confoy, Chief Risk Officer of GloFin, Paul Galsterer, Founding Partner of The Injury Firm, Lawrence Yablon, Partner at Robinson Yablon PC, and Anthony Sebok, Professor of Law and Co-Director of the Jacob Burns Center for Ethics in the Practice of Law at Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law.  

As the whole world struggles with COVID-19, existing economic disparities are heightened, and impossible to ignore. The pandemic has created an environment in which those already living paycheck to paycheck must now grapple with employers, insurers, and others who have let them down during this crisis.

The story of boyhood friends who became business partners in adulthood should be a sweet one. But the business relationship between personal injury lawyer Sean Callagy and litigation funder Legal Capital Group—run by George Prussin—has definitely gone sour.

TORONTO, April 29, 2020 /CNW/ – Easy Legal Finance Inc. a Canadian litigation financing firm, announced today, the acquisition of Seahold Investments Inc. Based in Moncton and established in 2000, Seahold Investments Inc. is one of the first firms in the country to offer pre-settlement lending to personal injury plaintiffs.

Last week, Utah became the latest state to introduce a litigation funding bill, as state senator James A. Dunnigan filed House Bill 312, which would force litigation funders to register with the Department of Commerce, and also aims to regulate how they operate. Many lawmakers are blaming litigation funding for the rising cost of insurance, which is an argument that is being made by Big Insurance and the Chamber of Commerce against the industry.