Plaintiffs in personal injury cases are often severely disabled and unable to support themselves and their families. Some must seek funds to survive until their cases resolve. Alternative litigation financing (ALF) is a non-recourse advance extended to personal injury plaintiffs until their cases end. Much higher interest is charged for these advances than on other types of loan transactions.
Many important legal and ethical issues have confronted attorneys in these matters. Perhaps the first issue posed was whether the doctrine of champerty would totally bar ALF. The codification of the New York law on champerty may be found in sections 488 and 489 of the Judiciary Law. Section 488 provides in pertinent part that an attorney shall not “directly or indirectly, buy, take an assignment of or be in any manner interested in buying or taking an assignment of a bond, promissory note, bill of exchange, book debt, or other thing in action, with the intent and for the purpose of bringing an action thereon.” Section 489 is applicable to corporations and associations.
This content has been archived. It is available through our partners, LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law.
To view this content, please continue to their sites.
Not a Lexis Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
Not a Bloomberg Law Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law are third party online distributors of the broad collection of current and archived versions of ALM's legal news publications. LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law customers are able to access and use ALM's content, including content from the National Law Journal, The American Lawyer, Legaltech News, The New York Law Journal, and Corporate Counsel, as well as other sources of legal information.
For questions call 1-877-256-2472 or contact us at [email protected]
