Following a series of meetings this week with various barristers I wanted to share some interesting progress in one of our most popular scheme types available through Rapid Raise funding.
We fund a large number of undisclosed commission cases (UDC’s). UDC’s have become a very large claim type in the UK and some commentators believe this area of claim could become larger than the UK PPI mis-selling scandal. The PPI scandal saw defendant’s pay out over £40billion between 2011 and 2020, with the number still growing albeit at a much slower rate. UDC’s come in various guises including, but not limited, to sub-prime mortgages, personal contract hire (PCP) and business energy.
Oscar Mayer vs BIU. Adam Tolley KC is a very well respected and leading counsel in the area of consumer mis-selling, which includes UDC’s, and he represented Oscar Mayer. He mentions on his profile page the claim [Oscar Mayer vs BIU] stating “Acting for the claimant food producer in an action for breach of fiduciary duty and bribery to recover commissions obtained by defendant energy broker from energy suppliers”. It is rumoured that the claim settled before trial. We believe that defendants do not want the claim to get to trial, as there is strong established case law, however defendants will push back all the way and force claimants to spend money on their claim. This is why having sufficient funding in place to see the claim through a trial is crucial.
Another Rapid Raise scheme we are particularly strong in is Housing Disrepair claims (HDR). “Housing disrepair” is the term used when referring to any defect(s) which substitutes towards a property becoming unsatisfactory and unfit for human habitation. The responsibility to ensure a Tenant’s property is free of such disrepair is subject to the Landlord of the property. If the Housing Association, Council or Landlord fails to carry out the necessary repair works to the property, within a reasonable amount of time once the issues have been reported by the Tenant, then this is considered housing disrepair and the Tenant will be eligible to pursue a claim against the Landlord for the works and compensation. From a traditional third party funding point of view it is impossible to manage hundreds of thousands of claims at very small funding amounts. Only through the use of Rapid Raise that automates funding decisions and the Sentry Portal that streamlines the administrative process is it possible to fund this claim type. It is reported that there are over 500,000 properties in the UK in disrepair. That is half a million families that are living in sub-standard conditions that have been severely let down by those who are duty bound to ensure they live in safe and habitable conditions.
Without litigation funding the vast majority of claimants, in the above claim types, would not have the opportunity to access justice, which is especially true for the HDR clients. Hopefully, this helps to show that we are concentrating our funding activity in the correct areas, where there is robust case law and it’s the “right thing to do”.
October 4, 2022
Insights
