NFL Concussion Lawyer Fights Order to Repay Litigation Funder

Craig Mitnick is a New Jersey lawyer who represented hundreds of current and former players in a settlement with the NFL. After taking part in a $1 billion settlement, Mitnick is now fighting an order to repay loans from a litigation funder amounting to more than $2 million. He has asked a federal judge to vacate the award to the finance company Balanced Bridge (formerly Thrivest), which also made settlement advances to former NFL players.

Legal Newsline reports that in his filing, Mitnick alleges that Balanced Bridge and its Fox Rothschild legal team took advantage of him, violating the canons of ethics. Mitnick is a former client of Fox Rothschild, which represented him in a dispute with his co-counsel in the NFL case, Locks Law Firm.

In a statement, Fox Rothschild noted that Mitnick’s arguments had largely been rejected by the arbitrator already. Balanced Bridge is owned by Joseph Genovesi. Thrivest is one of the companies the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau focused on after it provided high-interest loans to concussion victims in the NFL case. A judge ruled that the funding agreements were invalid.

The Third Circuit Court of Appeals eventually reversed that ruling, saying that the judge overstepped when she invalidated all financing contracts. Meanwhile, Chris Seeger of Seeger Weiss was accused of persuading class members to accept high-interest loans from Esquire Bank, where he served as director. Seeger is also known to have accused Mitnick of persuading his clients to partner with Thrivest, despite only two of his 1,000+ clients borrowing from Thrivest.

Mitnick had taken money on multiple occasions from Genovese, and the two discussed financing his firm. Mitnick’s argument is that the contracts with the funders were unenforceable because they were described as non-recourse, while including provisions that were not consistent with non-recourse loans. The arbitrator found that this was true of the first loan, but not the subsequent funds.

Craig Mitnick is a New Jersey lawyer who represented hundreds of current and former players in a settlement with the NFL. After taking part in a $1 billion settlement, Mitnick is now fighting an order to repay loans from a litigation funder amounting to more than $2 million. He has asked a federal judge to vacate the award to the finance company Balanced Bridge (formerly Thrivest), which also made settlement advances to former NFL players.

Legal Newsline reports that in his filing, Mitnick alleges that Balanced Bridge and its Fox Rothschild legal team took advantage of him, violating the canons of ethics. Mitnick is a former client of Fox Rothschild, which represented him in a dispute with his co-counsel in the NFL case, Locks Law Firm.

In a statement, Fox Rothschild noted that Mitnick’s arguments had largely been rejected by the arbitrator already. Balanced Bridge is owned by Joseph Genovesi. Thrivest is one of the companies the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau focused on after it provided high-interest loans to concussion victims in the NFL case. A judge ruled that the funding agreements were invalid.

The Third Circuit Court of Appeals eventually reversed that ruling, saying that the judge overstepped when she invalidated all financing contracts. Meanwhile, Chris Seeger of Seeger Weiss was accused of persuading class members to accept high-interest loans from Esquire Bank, where he served as director. Seeger is also known to have accused Mitnick of persuading his clients to partner with Thrivest, despite only two of his 1,000+ clients borrowing from Thrivest.

Mitnick had taken money on multiple occasions from Genovese, and the two discussed financing his firm. Mitnick’s argument is that the contracts with the funders were unenforceable because they were described as non-recourse, while including provisions that were not consistent with non-recourse loans. The arbitrator found that this was true of the first loan, but not the subsequent funds.