Garrett Ordower
The latest work product decision in the litigation finance sphere — Acceleration Bay v. Activision Blizzard — bucks the near universal trend of courts finding that the work product doctrine shields disclosure of communications exchanged with an actual or prospective litigation funder. Probably because it used the wrong legal standard.
Read MoreGarrett Ordower
The U.S. Court’s Advisory Committee on Civil Rules signaled in its recently released report that litigation finance continues “growing and evolving” and that considering potential rules mandating disclosure of funding arrangements must begin “if at all, by undertaking a careful quest for information that may be hard to come by.” That process will not proceed…
Read MoreGarrett Ordower
The closely watched case of Gbarabe v. Chevron – a class action against the oil giant based on an oil rig explosion off the coast of Nigeria – has been portrayed as a cautionary tale for the world of litigation finance. The defense attorneys’ dogged pursuit of the details of plaintiff’s outside funding, the story goes, succeeded, and aided in the attack on the adequacy of plaintiff’s counsel. The defense did successfully defeat class certification, but litigation funding ultimately played little or no role in the case’s demise.
Read MoreGarrett Ordower
Claimants considering litigation financing often ask whether financing must be disclosed to U.S. courts. The answer in federal courts – for now – is no (save one limited exception).
Rule 26 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure currently requires initial disclosure of a broad range of information including the documents and other materials the party expects to use to support its claims or defenses, the computation of categories of damages, the identification of those who might have discoverable information, and insurance agreements. But the rule doesn’t require all potential disclosures, including for example, litigation financing arrangements.
Read MoreMarla Decker
Many of the investments that we make at Lake Whillans involve supporting innovators and entrepreneurs who are seeking to protect trade secrets. We have found this group to be particularly vulnerable to more well-heeled competitors seeking to gain an unfair advantage in the market place. Naturally, we were curious about the new rights enacted by Congress in the Defend Trade Secrets Act of 2016. We turned to Jonathan Patchen and Max Twine of Taylor & Company Law Offices, LLP, named to our recently published list of the White Sandal Elite: The Go-To Law Firm Firms of the Silicon Valley, to educate us and ATL readers on the basics of the new legislation:
Read MoreLee Drucker
I’ve definitely been involved in situations where new approaches, and particularly litigation finance, would have helped to level the playing field against a well-resourced opponent. Without getting into specifics, our firm has represented bankruptcy estates where a major asset was a litigation against well-heeled defendants. A significant part of the defendants’ litigation strategy was a scorched-earth tactic designed to prolong the litigation, with the knowledge that the bankruptcy estate had a finite and shrinking pool of funds, to pressure the bankruptcy estates and creditors to accept a less attractive settlement of meritorious claims. Litigation funding could certainly have helped to shift the leverage and not allow the costs of litigation to become a barrier to obtaining the right result.
Read MoreLee Drucker
One of the biggest challenges energy and technology companies face is protecting innovation. How do you make sure other companies or individuals don’t steal valuable new intellectual property?
Below is an article written by Deborah Huso in which Lisa Adams, partner in the IP section, and Tom Burton, chair of the energy technology practice, at Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo, P.C.’s Boston offices, talk about how to make money from your innovations without risking theft or loss of proprietary technology.
Read MoreThe best way for companies and their counsel to determine if litigation finance is an attractive option is to discuss it with us.
Lee Drucker drucker@lakewhillans.com
