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 this tool.

However, the proposed regulation has raised concerns among experts of this industry, as it is prone to “over-regulation”. Read the op-ed published by our Director, Guido Demarco, analyzing the Resolution and its consequences.

Game-changing Court Interpretations

The implementation of Directive 2014/104, designed to regulate tort actions for competition law infringements, gave rise to 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 game-changing questions.

The CJEU held that Article 10.3 to be a substantive rule and that, therefore, the new 5-year limitation period may not be applied retroactively. Read more about the case here.

European Litigation Funders Association

ELFA, the European Litigation Funders Association, was established to serve as the European voice of the commercial litigation funding industry. With the objective of representing the industry’s interests before governmental bodies, international organizations, and professional associations, ELFA also aims to function as a clearinghouse and reference for relevant information, research and data regarding the uses and applications of commercial legal finance within the European continent.

It is in our best interest to support and promote organizations such as ELFA, which will be an umbrella for all the stakeholders involved.

Band 1 – Chambers and Partners

And, of course, we cannot say goodbye to 2022 without highlighting our ranking in the 2022 Chambers and Partners directory “Litigation Support, Europe-wide Litigation Funding: Brokers”.

Stonward ranked in Band 1 and our Director, Guido Demarco, was also recognized in it. “The firm’s sophisticated financial markets understanding, and deep legal technical expertise combine to offer a bespoke service to clients,” highlights the ranking.