Content for the Public

London’s specialist competition court, the Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT), decided in October 2021 that a class action should proceed on behalf of rail passengers who are allegedly being overcharged by the Southeastern and South Western rail franchises by not making ‘boundary fares’ sufficiently available. Southeastern and South Western could have taken last year’s decision as a prompt to do the right thing by their customers and offer compensation. Unfortunately, they sought to delay resolution of the case, and ultimately the payment of compensation, by pursuing an appeal.

The District Court in Amsterdam has delivered a significant decision in a ground-breaking ESG action brought against Airbus. The action is organised and funded by the ESG team at Woodsford.

On Thursday, July 14^th, Litigation Finance Journal hosted a digital event, “How Investors Approach Litigation Finance.” The event featured a unique cross-section of investor types, including David Gallagher, Co-Head of Litigation Investing at The D.E. Shaw Group, CJ Wei, Vice President of Private Credit at Northleaf Capital, Benjamin Blum, Managing Director at Flexpoint Ford, LLC, David Demeter, Director of Investment at Davidson College, and Kendra Corbett, Partner at Cloverlay. The event was moderated by Ed Truant, Founder of Slingshot Capital.

Legal Futures profiles Deminor’s ESG insights in a new report. Deminor says that ESG legal investment has a high likelihood of becoming one of the United Kingdom’s most investable lines of business for litigation financiers. 

The role of superannuation funds in litigation finance (specifically in funding class action claims) has been highlighted by industry insiders in Australia, who point to it as a benefit to the funds themselves and also an encouragement of good corporate governance. The recent example of HESTA, a super fund based in Sydney, taking part in a class action lawsuit against multiple financial service companies, has demonstrated both the appetite and the potential benefits of such engagements.

International law firm Brown Rudnick has advised alternative investment firm North Wall Capital on a £100m litigation funding partnership with PGMBM, a law firm focused on environmental, social and corporate governance cases. The investment will be used by PGMBM to address the growing demand from consumers and other victims of injustice to seek recourse against corporates.

The Lloyd v. Google claim has given rise to some thought-provoking questions:

• Has Google breached its duties as a data controller? If so, have class members of the ensuing collective action suffered quantifiable damages?
• How exactly should “same interest” be determined in a case regarding the misuse of data?
• Do individual members of a class have to demonstrate material harm in order to receive recompense?

In the following article, we will explore the answers to these and other questions that have arisen from Case UKSC 2019/0213, otherwise known as Lloyd v. Google.

The extent and scope of litigation funding liability is being questioned, after a High Court ruled the funder was liable for costs predating the litigation funding agreement (LFA). 

The Soros Economic Development Fund has issued a £5MM investment into Aristata Capital. This brings Aristata’s total fundraise to well over £40MM. The firm has been established to protect social change projects and the environment.

Researchers around the world are providing examples of litigation finance becoming an increasingly important asset class. This, as investors are on the hunt for high return opportunities with compounding portfolio effects. 

Erasmus Law Review hosts white papers from 10 of Europe’s top legal finance scholars. The library highlights major developments and barriers to litigation financiers. 

Omni Bridgeway, Deminor and Nivalion AG have teamed up to organize the launch of the European Litigation Funders Association (ELFA). Tasked with helping expand legal finance innovation across Europe, ELFA will represent industry best practices before international governments and legal associations. 

The following piece was contributed by Lillian Rizio and Max Hensen of Australian law firm, Piper Alderman. 

The Full Federal Courts’ decision in Parkin v Boral Limited (Class Closure) [2022] FCAFC 47 (Parkin) confirms the courts’ power to issue pre-mediation (and settlement) soft class closure notices to group members. The decision hints at the (positive) appetite of the Federal Court in making future orders for class closure that facilitate a just outcome,[1] simplifies the assessment of quantum prior to settlement, and reduces an element of risk in funded litigation.

Legal Bay, The Lawsuit Settlement Funding Company, announced today that on June 15, 2022, its recent New Jersey State Court lawsuit filing against Mustang Legal Funding and its principals has been removed to the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey, Newark Vicinage, by the Mustang Entities, James Beltz, and Kevin Cavanaugh. The case now bears the following docket name: Legal Bay LLC v. Mustang Funding LLC, et al., No. 22-cv-3941 (ES) (JBC). The matter has been assigned to District Judge Esther Salas and Magistrate Judge James B. Clark, III.

DLA Piper today announces a new partnership with the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) that will see the two organisations working collaboratively to develop innovative responses to the global refugee crisis, enhance refugee integration and advocate for impactful, systemic change. During the first three years, DLA Piper will provide pro bono support worth over $3.7m and contribute financially to the agency’s global programmes.

Litigation funding specialists, Apex Litigation Finance have announced the appointment of Stephen Allinson, Solicitor and Licensed Insolvency Practitioner, as their new Head of Legal.

Mastercard and Visa are no strangers to legal action, having endured class actions and legal challenges all over the world. Currently, a collective action funded by Bench Walk Advisors accuses the credit giant of illegally overcharging Multilateral Interchange Fees (MIFs) in the UK.

Omni Bridgeway (ASX:OBL), the world’s largest legal risk finance and management team, is pleased to announce new appointments in its Asia Pacific leadership team.

The International Legal Finance Association (ILFA) today announced it will host its first annual International Legal Finance Conference on Monday, October 24, 2022, at the prestigious Morgan Library in New York City.

Six producers of big rigs have allegedly conspired in a 14-year scheme to defraud government regulators over emissions mandates. The Competition Appeal Tribunal has approved a £2B claim marking a historic first for United Kingdom collective actions. The Road Haulage Association (RHA) is representing an estimated 18,000 claimants as the beneficiaries of the hopeful award. 

The following piece was contributed by Martin del Gallego and Matthew Harris of Australian law firm, Piper Alderman.

This article considers a recent decision of the Federal Court of Australia, awarding damages to class action claimants on an aggregate basis.  Aggregate damages is a rare global award which covers all group members described or identified in the award.  This was the first instance of aggregate damages being awarded to a funded litigant in Australia, and may spur a trend in representative claims brought on this basis.

Leading litigation funder Validity Finance  announced it has expanded to California, adding experienced litigator Mark Chen as portfolio counsel in Los Angeles.  Mr. Chen was previously special counsel with Covington & Burling in LA, representing clients in complex commercial disputes, including major intellectual property cases in the entertainment sector. In his new role, he will help assess Validity’s funding opportunities with law firms and businesses in Southern California and the West Coast.

Bloomberg Law profiles Ashley Keller and Adam Gerchen as serial law entrepreneurs who have now raised $750M to fund the first secondary transaction litigation fund. Six years ago, Mr. Keller and Mr. Gerchen made headlines by selling their litigation finance firm for upwards of $160M to Burford Capital. Bloomberg Law reports that the secondary deal landscape for litigation finance is in its infancy. News of Keller and Gerchen’s new secondary market fund (under the banner of Gerchen Capital Partners) is being viewed as a signal of the maturing nature of litigation investment broadly. 

The American Bar Association’s Commercial and Business Litigation Committee recently conducted a podcast interview featuring former federal prosecutor Kenneth Harmon and former litigation attorney Giugi Carminati, who discussed litigation finance and the wide range of benefits associated. 

Victory Park Capital (“VPC”), a leading global alternative investment firm, today announced the additions of Chad Clamage, Principal, and Ahmed Eltamami, Vice President, to the firm’s investment team. Clamage and Eltamami are primarily responsible for sourcing, analyzing, executing and managing investments within legal finance. They will work closely with Luke Darkow, Principal, and Richard Levy, Chief Executive Officer, Chief Investment Officer & Founder, who leads the legal finance strategy at VPC.

The Litigation Finance Podcast features guests from across the global commercial and consumer litigation funding landscapes. With over 60 podcasts spanning five years of archives, we thought it would be interesting to take a look at the five top podcasts in terms of viewer traffic.

On the latest episode of the LFJ Podcast, we spoke with Erik Bomans, CEO and Executive Board Member of Deminor. Mr. Bomans discussed recent developments and trends in litigation funding in continental Europe, including what the total addressable market looks like and how that is expected to grow over time, how country-specific jurisdictions are differentiated, some of the main barriers to investing in litigation funding in Europe, and how the regulatory environment across the continent can actually be a benefit to funders.

The following piece was contributed by Eric Schuller, President of the Alliance for Responsible Consumer Legal Funding (ARC).

Illinois becomes the latest State to bring proper regulation to the Consumer Legal Funding industry with the signing of SB 1099.

The following is a contributed piece from Rory Donadio, CEO of www.tribecalawsuitloans.com

There are many ways to look at what those of us in litigation funding do. Is it a pre-settlement cash advance or a non-recourse loan? Is it truly lending, or is it an investment? But far more important than what we call our work, is what we actually do. According to a September 2021 Bloomberg Law Litigation Finance Survey, 88% of the responding attorneys believe that litigation finance enables better access to justice.

Litigation Capital Management Limited (AIM:LIT), an alternative asset manager specializing in dispute financing solutions internationally, announces that it has entered into a litigation finance agreement for a new representative claim.