Litigation finance is a tool for justice, even in divorce. But, when a divorcee bypasses the funder, justice will follow the failed nuptials all the way to the bank.
Johnson & Johnson Settlement Puts Litigation Funders in the Spotlight
The business of mass tort funding continues to be grow in the world of litigation finance, with the potential for large settlements being secured if the claims can attract a sufficiently high volume of claimants.
An opinion piece by Sujeet Indap in the Financial Times looks at the recent announcement of a settlement in the Johnson & Johnson talcum powder mass tort case, and the ways in which it has put the contentious role of litigation funders in the spotlight once more. Indap highlights that J&J used its press release announcing the settlement to take aim at “the unregulated and surreptitious financing of product litigation”, which it argued had created financial incentives for these large-scale mass tort cases.
Furthermore, Indap notes that J&J has since informed the federal court that it would be seeking details around the funders’ of the talc litigation, and would be serving Fortress Investment Group with a subpoena. J&J have argued that the involvement of litigation funders like Fortress have made the bargaining and settlement process more difficult, claiming that the priorities of the plaintiffs’ lawyers have been complicated by the need to ensure sufficient financial returns on the funders’ investments.
Speaking with Indap for the article, Samir Parikh, law professor at Wake Forest University, suggested that the most important factor in the success or failure of mass torts is the ability of lawyers and other third-parties to find and register huge numbers of claimants for these cases. Parikh argues that, rather than being focused on the merits of the claims being brought, “the name of the game is really marketing, or ‘building inventory’.”