Lawsuit Settlement Funding For Personal Injury Cases

Personal Injury cases are usually instances where the injured party is hurt by the actions of another person or company and because of that take legal action to remedy the situation. When the injured party decides to file a lawsuit, the lawyer takes it on a contingent basis but their pain and suffering still continues. For example, a woman gets hit by a post office driver delivering the mail. The woman stays in the hospital for a few days which is not free. In addition, her car is wrecked, and she cannot go back to work for six months. In that six month layoff, she cannot work she has lost wages as well as pain and suffering. She decides to sue the U.S. Post Office for her hospital bills, lost wages, pain and suffering and attorney fees. The bills pile up for plaintiffs because depending on how serious the injury is they may not be able to work or if they are working not at 100%. In that situation, the plaintiffs are looking for damages as well as the court costs being paid by whatever settlement they get. These cases can take a long time to resolve with the different motions, evidence being collected, and experts if any are needed to testify. When a settlement is finally reached, the case may have taken years to be resolved and the plaintiff’s bills maybe through the roof. Also payment to the plaintiff may take a long time to work its way through the red tape and by that time, the plaintiff might be in the poor house or in bankruptcy. Pre-Settlement Funding rnPre-Settlement Funding is a non-recourse advance provided by a legal funding company to a plaintiff to help them to continue paying their bills without the headaches of falling behind them. The amount determined by the company is non-recoupable which means the plaintiff does not have to pay it back. There are considerably high interest rates with pre-settlement funding because of the risk factor associated with the advance. A scenario in which pre-settlement funding makes sense is the woman who was hit by the U.S. Post Office truck does not have any type of savings or checking accounts. Her friends and family are in no position to help her and her bills are stacking. She has already filed a lawsuit and its working its way through the legal system. A legal funding company would evaluate her case and decide how much to give her. The company decides to advance her the money and instead of letting her bills go to collection agencies, she can keep on track with them while case goes on. Post-Settlement Funding rnPost-Settlement Funding is an advance provided by a legal funding company to a plaintiff to help bridge them between the time they are actually getting paid by the settlement and time the case was settled. Post-Settlement Funding only provides for plaintiffs who cases were settled. It’s similarity to pre-settlement funding is that they are both advances, one if before the case starts and the other is after it’s settled. So the woman hit by the U.S. Post Office truck case was finally settled but the post office has appealed so that delays payment. It’s good for her that she won the case but bad because she still isn’t getting paid. Her bills need to get paid and unemployment has run out so she would contact a post-settlement funding company. The company would evaluate all the factors including the losing party’s credibility and then decide on the amount to advance. Since the case is settled, the funding company has a better idea and a lower risk model than the pre-settlement funding on advancing the money. The woman receives the money from the company with no hassle and she can pay her bills until the settlement check comes.