Over the past few years, the legal industry has witnessed a rise in third-party funding across the board. A December 28th DBR Business Review article hinted at a rise of third-party funding in international arbitration. A recent Bloomberg News Article titled Litigation Funding is on the Rise in Big Cases, hinted that the percentage of lawyers in the United States who say their law firm uses legal funding grew from 7% in 2013 to 11% in 2014 to 28% in 2015. It now seems like the industry is spreading north into Canada. The article below appeared online yesterday on the Litigation Finance Journal website.

Consumer Legal Funding On the Rise in Canada
July 23, 2018 Consumer, Public

Much attention has been paid recently to the thriving Consumer Legal Funding industry in the United States. But the United States’ neighbor-to-the-north is also experiencing a Consumer Legal Funding boom, thanks to rising disbursement rates and insurance companies playing hardball when it comes to settlement negotiations.

As reported in the Law Times, plaintiff-side lawyers in small personal injury claims are turning to litigation funders to help pay the bills, and to fight back against the insurance industry whose willingness to pay out is growing stingier by the year.

Thanks to the Ontario Insurance Act, the deductible for damages in automobile accidents is growing every year. Currently the threshold is set at $37,983.33, however that number is set to increase. That means it’s more difficult for injured parties to recover general damages from motor vehicle accidents than it would be in any other injury case. Additionally, recovery of future healthcare-related costs is also dependent on meeting a threshold – this one much higher: $126,610.07. That number is also set to increase every single year. Click to read full article