This case confirms that litigation funding agreements in the context of class actions – which give funders a right to be paid an amount equal to a portion of any recovery by the plaintiffs – are not unenforceable by reason of public policy. In dismissing an appeal from a decision of Crow J, the Court of Appeal’s judgment includes a discussion of the history of maintenance and champerty and rules against assignment of causes of action, and the evolution of various procedural rules to control abuses of process both generally and in the class action context in particular.
Michael May (led by L Armstrong QC) appeared for the first and third respondents, instructed by Clyde & Co.
The judgment is published here.