As Michael J. Kaufman pointed out, the financing instrument at the heart of the draft model could be issued by an entity instead of the plaintiff. Different advantages and challenges flow from different structures; he identified two. As we wind … Continue reading
I have reviewed the draft Model Litigation Financing Contract proposed by Professor Steinitz and Ms. Field. I commend them on their hard work, sophisticated scholarship and ingenuity in developing their proposed Contract. I also applaud their willingness to invite others … Continue reading
The Dugal litigation finance contract, which provides insurance against adverse cost orders in a Canadian shareholder class action, allows the Funder and Plaintiff to terminate for cause, and allows the Funder to terminate by refusing to insure the adverse cost order … Continue reading
This post continues our series contrasting the terms of the contract financing the Canadian shareholder class action in Dugal with the draft model. This one looks at the terms relating to conflicts of interest and buyer’s remorse. Our draft model contract requires disclosure … Continue reading
The Canadian contract we posted last week (used by the plaintiffs in the Dugal matter) addresses information sharing in slightly different ways than our draft model, presumably because privilege law is different. It is not obvious which contract mandates greater disclosure. In … Continue reading
Commercial litigation funding is still nascent in Canada, particularly in the field of class actions. The first known third party funding arrangement in a class action occurred in the mid-90s, when a plaintiff and his counsel organized a syndicate of … Continue reading
The last two posts laid out what a material breach by either party is. The question then is, what happens if a party commits such a breach? While the question cannot be too narrowly and definitively answered, because parties should … Continue reading
One of the biggest challenges in litigation finance is striking the right balance of risk between litigants and funders, consistent with the norms of the legal system and the ethical duties constraining counsel. Striking the right balance increases the chances … Continue reading
For the reasons discussed below, we are amending our draft model contract to make the default provision when bridge financing becomes necessary to be good faith negotiations. However, we leave intact, as an alternate, the concepts of Accelerated and Supplement … Continue reading
We begin this blog post with a few suggestions on nomenclature. For purposes of this post, we introduce the use of the terms “triad” and “dyad” to discuss and differentiate the possible combinations and permutations of conflicts inherent in any … Continue reading
