Insights & Events

On March 12, 2014, at the 2014 Winter Meeting of the National Association of Railroad Trial Counsel (NARTC) in Phoenix, Robert Johnston spoke to attendees on the growing problems associated with the funding of plaintiffs’ suits by third-party financiers.  Mr. Johnston presented examples of these kinds of arrangements, such as the contract a financier entered into with the Ecuadorian plaintiffs suing Chevron, which provided a minimum payment to the financier of $55 million for any settlement in excess of about $70 million in exchange for a $4 million investment.  The conversation focused on how these arrangements alter the plaintiff-side settlement calculation and how the long-standing relationships between plaintiffs’ counsel and the financiers may affect the attorney-client relationship.  Mr. Johnston also discussed with the participants ways defendants can discover the terms of such financing relationships and proposals to require up-front disclosure of financing.