Articles

Have the tables turned in the litigation funding industry?
“Have the tables turned in the litigation funding industry?” A New Op-Ed by Guido Demarco

Our Director, Guido Demarco, writes for the Oxford Business Law Blog about the shifting dynamics of the litigation funding industry. Along with Rodrigo Olivares-Caminal, Chair in Banking and Finance Law, Queen Mary University of London, they offer a unique perspective on the rise, challenges, and transformative moments within the litigation funding sector, providing invaluable insights into the industry’s current landscape. Don’t miss the full article here. “Until now, investors in the litigation funding arena have echoed this thought. However, a recent decision by the UK Supreme Court in R (on the application of PACCAR Inc and others) v Competition Appeal Tribunal…

Landmark New York Court’s Decision Strengthens the Future of Litigation Funding
Op-Ed by Guido Demarco: Landmark New York Court’s Decision and the Future of Litigation Funding

Guido Demarco, Director and Head of Legal Assets at Stonward, delves into the outlook for litigation funding following the significant ruling by the New York Court in the case involving Petersen Energía SAU and Petersen Energía Inversora SAU (the Petersen Companies) versus the Republic of Argentina. The piece entitled “Landmark New York Court’s Decision Strengthens the Future of Litigation Funding” explains how the ruling reaffirms the critical role litigation funders play in providing access to justice, particularly in complex cases involving powerful sovereign entities. “No doubt, this will be a beacon in times in which the industry is under heavy…

Stonward in the Litigation Finance Journal podcast
Chris Garvey interviewed in Litigation Finance Journal

The Litigation Finance Journal has spoken with Chris Garvey, member of the Board of Investments at Stonward. In this episode, Chris discussed the litigation funding market in Spain, the challenges and opportunities for funders there, what cases Stonward looks to finance, implications of the Voss report, and much more! Listen to the full episode here. Chris pointed out that “there is a very healthy and active, vibrant-no win, no fee industry within the legal community in Spain”, and highlighted the two areas in which he is seeing more funding deployed: “the competition space, where you have the need for expensive…

Litigation funding - Advancing class actions against large corporations
Opinion: “Litigation funding – Advancing class actions against large corporations”

Our Director and Head of Legal Assets, Guido Demarco, has published a new opinion article at Abogados.Com.Ar, a prestigious Argentinian website focused on the legal sector, about how litigation funding can help advance class actions against large corporations. Litigation funding has proven to be an invaluable tool for driving large-scale class actions. The truck cartel in Europe, the PPI scandal in the UK, the ‘Dieselgate’ in Germany or the class action brought by shareholders against the Commonwealth Bank of Australia are just a few examples. The financial support provided by litigation funds has leveled the playing field against large companies…

Analysis: Recent ruling on competition law that strengthens its enforcement

Our experts analyze the recent ruling by the European Court of Justice (ECJ) on Case C-25/21 on  competition law, on the basis of the burden of proof in actions for damages brought under Article 101 TFEU (Treaty on the Function of the European Union), which prohibits anti-competitive agreements between companies. The case: The claimants are the owners of a service station built by their predecessor. During the period from 1987 to 2009, the claimants or their predecessor, on the one hand, and Repsol, on the other, concluded several exclusive contracts for the supply of fuel. In 2001 (final decision 2010)…

Analysis: Preliminary Draft Law – Representative Actions for the Protection of Consumers’ Collective Interests

Analysis of the Preliminary Draft Law on representative actions for the protection of the collective interests of consumers, which the Council of Ministers approved on December 20, 2022. This Law involves the transposition of Directive (EU) 2020/1828 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 November 2020 on representative actions for the protection of the collective interests of consumers. The Draft Bill on Representative Actions for the Protection of the Collective Interests of Consumers brings new developments in the field of collective actions, which we now refer to as representative actions. The Directive guarantees that all the Member…

2022: A Year in Review for Litigation Funding

As we prepare to say goodbye to 2022, we would like to pause for a moment and reflect on the Litigation Funding related milestones that have defined the year. Regulations 2022 has been signaled by regulatory developments for the Litigation Funding Industry. Importantly, on September the European Parliament approved a set of recommendations to the Commission on Responsible Private Funding of Litigation. The Resolution recognizes that litigation funding is a growing practice in the EU and calls for a proposal for a Directive to establish common minimum standards on third-party commercial litigation funding addressing the transparency, fairness, and proportionality of…

Truck cartel: The León Court of Appeals rules in accordance with the CJEU’s interpretation

RM vs DAF TRUCKS and VOLVO AB The implementation of Directive 2014/104, designed to regulate tort actions for competition law infringements, gave rise to several interpretational challenges around Article 22, which establishes a prohibition on the retroactive application of the Directive’s substantive provisions. The key issue was to determine which provisions were substantive and which were not. In the context of this interpretational problem, the Provincial Court of León referred a question to the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) for a preliminary ruling that would clarify certain questions that were not entirely made clear regarding the characteristics…

Litigation Funding Regulation proposed
Guido Demarco for Expansion about the New Resolution on Responsible private funding of litigation

How to regulate Litigation Funding is a current trend lately. In this regard, Guido Demarco, Director of Stonward, has published an op-ed in the Spanish newspaper Expansión talking about the new Resolution approved by the European Parliament on Responsible Private Funding of Litigation. The Resolution, dated 13 September 2022, recognizes that litigation funding is a growing practice in the EU and calls for a proposal for a Directive to establish common minimum standards on third-party commercial litigation funding addressing the transparency, fairness and proportionality of this tool. The problem, according to Guido, is that the proposed regulation is prone to “over-regulation”. The…

Stonward, ranks Band 1 for Litigation Support – Chambers & Partners

Chambers 2022 Litigation Support, Europe-wide Litigation Funding: Brokers ranking has been announced. We are pleased and thrilled to share that Stonward has been ranked Band 1 in this ranking, and that our Director, Guido Demarco, has also achieved it. Thank you to our clients for their feedback and thanks to the researchers for their hard-work 👏. See here the full ranking.