Several UK car finance providers urged the Court of Appeal on Wednesday to overturn a ruling that allows more than 5,000 customers to bring claims against them collectively, seeking to force the claimants to pursue individual actions instead. The hearing marks a pivotal test for the viability of group motor finance litigation in the UK, and by extension for the funders backing it.

As reported by Law360, the lenders argue that the claims are too varied to be managed as a single group proceeding and should be split into individual cases. The ruling under appeal had cleared the way for the 5,000-plus claimants to advance collectively — a structure that dramatically reduces per-claimant costs and is essential to the economics of funded mass motor finance litigation.

The appeal comes as the motor finance sector confronts one of the largest consumer redress exposures in recent UK history. The FCA's £9.1 billion motor finance redress scheme, confirmed earlier this month, addresses commission-linked mis-selling through a regulatory remediation channel — but parallel group litigation has continued to progress in the courts, with claimant firms pursuing damages arguments that extend beyond the FCA's redress framework.

For litigation funders, the Court of Appeal's decision will have direct implications for how mass motor finance claims can be structured, financed, and resolved. A ruling in favor of the lenders would splinter what is currently a single, fundable group proceeding into thousands of standalone actions — a structure that would be economically unworkable for most claimants and would effectively channel recoveries into the FCA scheme. A ruling upholding the group structure would cement the UK courts as a viable second track for motor finance claims running in parallel with regulatory redress.

The judgment is expected to be closely watched by funders, defendant lenders, and claimant firms involved in the wider generation of UK group consumer actions taking shape in the motor finance, data protection, and competition spaces.

Spanish litigation boutique Eskariam has secured a €50 million senior secured credit facility from U.S.-based Victory Park Capital, providing fresh capital to finance the firm's pipeline of complex damages and commercial disputes.

As reported by Iberian Lawyer, the facility underscores growing investor appetite for deploying private credit into litigation-intensive law firms in continental Europe, where the market for third-party capital has lagged the U.K. and the United States but is maturing rapidly.

Eskariam was founded to pursue large-scale damages claims, including cartel follow-on actions, competition cases, and high-value commercial disputes. The firm intends to use the facility to underwrite case costs, including expert fees and long-tail disbursements, while pursuing an expanding portfolio of multi-party claims on behalf of corporate clients.

Victory Park Capital, a Chicago-headquartered alternative asset manager with more than $10 billion in assets under management, has become an increasingly visible lender to specialty finance businesses, including law firm credit and litigation finance platforms. The Eskariam transaction reflects VPC's continued push into European legal assets, where credit facilities to claimant-side firms are emerging as a preferred structure for institutional investors seeking exposure to litigation returns without taking direct case risk.

The deal arrives against the backdrop of a European Commission weighing regulatory guardrails for third-party litigation funding, even as funders and law firms deepen the capital structures underpinning cross-border damages claims.