Litigation Finance and E-Discovery

Now that document discovery increasingly means e-discovery, it can be exceptionally costly to produce and review voluminous electronically stored information (ESI).  In many cases, the viability and ultimate value of a claim may not be ascertainable until some discovery is done. For some litigants in such cases this fact creates a dilemma:  they need funding to engage in discovery, but they cannot demonstrate that their cases are worth funding until they are able to engage in discovery.

One firm that provides e-discovery services offers a solution for that problem.  By offering funding for its own e-discovery services, the firm provides something akin to special purpose financing for litigants that have limited financing needs.  It can also be like bridge financing for cases that still need to prove their worth. The availability of this kind of special purpose financing demonstrates the expanding acceptance of litigation funding.

Roy Plattel, one of the principals of HP2 eDiscovery, points out that “[i]n our big-data world the costs of processing and managing the electronic discovery can out pace all other line item costs in the lawsuit.” This trend will only intensify as data populations increase.  He also notes that “with the increasing costs associated with litigating lawsuits, many cases are being prematurely settled or not getting filed at all. Lawyers are rejecting profitable cases because the ‘cost to verdict’ is too high.”

Consequently, HP2 has started offering financing to cover the cost of its services. There are financing arrangements available for both plaintiffs and defendants, and the company does not have any preset requirements for financing.  The litigant’s needs determine how much funding can be provided.

Such flexible and specific financing demonstrates that litigation financing is here to stay. More and more capital is being directed to litigation finance, and it is finding specific uses. As the litigation finance sector continues to grow, litigants will be better able to find just the kind of financing that works for them.

Topics: litigation finance, legal reform, third-party funding, litigation costs, alternative litigation finance, electronic discovery, ediscovery, litigation management services

 Works Cited:  HP2 eDiscovery Announces Litigation Financing for eDiscovery, EIN Presswire (Sept. 20, 2017) available at https://www.einpresswire.com/article/404866183/hp2-ediscovery-announces-litigation-financing-for-ediscovery