You won a money judgment, but defendant appealed. Your firm or your client needs funds now to cover overhead or to pursue a new opportunity or pay daily living expenses, emergency expenses, or to pay for an appellate attorney. Cash is short and borrowing is off-the-table.
Appeal Financing is a non-recourse investment and not a loan. It is risk free for you i.e., AFP is only repaid if the case is eventually won and only paid with the money collected from the defendant.
- It’s is like collecting on an insurance policy, before you pay the premium! But it’s even better – because you only pay if you eventually win the case and collect!
Here are 6 actual circumstances showings how non-recourse appeal financing has helped plaintiffs as well as attorneys.
- Age Discrimination
Plaintiff, who had been subject to age discrimination in the workplace, filed a law suit and was awarded a substantial money judgment.
The defendant appealed. Plaintiff was unemployed, lacked the funds to hire an appellate attorney and could not afford to wait for the appeal to run its course. With appellate funding, plaintiff was able to hire an experience appellate attorney and pay for living expenses during the course of the appeal.
Contingency Fee Law Firm
A contingency fee law firm won a money judgment for a client. Defendant appealed. The case wasn’t likely to settle and was expected to be decided in 18-20 months. The firm had a sizable investment tied up in litigation expenses in the case on appeal as well as in others. The firm needed capital to prepare several other cases for trial and to take several new cases which it knew would require significant capital to prepare. The bank would not increase the firm’s line of credit and the partners wanted to avoid putting more or their own capital into the firm. Appeal Funding Partners provided a non-recourse advance against the fee lien the attorneys owned for winning the case. The firm was able to accomplish its objectives.
Medical Negligence
Coporate Plaintiff, Hourly Law Firm
Breach of Contract
Plaintiff filed a lawsuit against a large corporation for breach of contract. Knowing that plaintiff did not have deep pockets, they forced plaintiff to rack-up attorney’s fees and litigation expenses. The plaintiff nearly went bankrupt before the case went to trial. However, the plaintiff won a substantial judgment, which defendant appealed. Plaintiff could not afford to defend the judgment and was about to settle the case for pennies on the dollar. Appeal funding provided plaintiff with the capital to hire an appellate attorney and keep his business open during the course of the appeal.
Insurance Bad Faith
An elderly plaintiff won an insurance bad faith case, which was appealed. Plaintiff was facing foreclosure on his home and mounting living expenses. Plaintiff, who had recently undergone major surgery, feared he might not live long enough to collect any of his judgment, even if he won the appeal. Non-recourse appeal funding removed the anxiety and financial pressure on plaintiff, and provided him with a sizeable amount of money before the appeal was decided.
Hedge Your Bets: Non-recourse Financing For Money Judgments On Appeal
Financial Risk Transfer and Risk Mitigation During An Appeal Of A Money Judgment
Appeal Funding Partners, LLC, leader in appeal finance, provides immediate financial assistance, in the form of non- recourse (risk-free) cash advances to trial attorneys and plaintiffs, who have money judgments on appeal. These cash investments are made while the appeal is still pending, before the final appellate decision is reached.
Michael Blum is a trial attorney and CEO of Appeal Funding Partners, LLC . A pioneer in Litigation Funding, he has over 17 year experience providing risk mitigation services and non-recourse funding to attorneys and plaintiffs with money judgments on appeal. He has served on the Board of Directors of the Consumer Attorneys of California and of the Marin Trial Lawyers Association and regularly speaks to trial-lawyer groups and has written for TLA magazines on the financial management of a contingency-fee law firm. He may be contacted at 415-729-4214 or mgblum@appealfundingpartners.com.
© copyright 2012 Appeal Funding Partners, LLC
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