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23 February 2024 / Joseph Evans , Simon Heatley
Issue: 8060 / Categories: Features , Litigation funding , Procedure & practice
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Post-PACCAR: truckloads of litigation-funding developments

160022
Joseph Evans & Simon Heatley talk PACCAR, PlayStation & the Post Office—and what’s further down the road for litigation funding
  • Considers recent litigation funding cases in the context of the PACCAR decision, and predicts what’s next for the industry.

Since the Supreme Court gave judgment in R (on the application of PACCAR Inc and others v Competition Appeal Tribunal and others [2023] UKSC 28 in July 2023, there has been much debate on the impact of the decision. Now the dust has started to settle, we are beginning to see judicial challenges arising under PACCAR, with litigants seeking to establish that existing litigation funding agreements (LFAs) fall within the ambit of PACCAR as non-compliant damages-based agreements (DBAs) with mixed success. At the same time, with the Post Office Horizon IT inquiry highlighting the key role litigation funding can play in providing access to justice, the government has stated that it intends to reverse the ‘damaging effects of PACCAR at the first legislative opportunity’.

Litigation funders believe the industry has cause for optimism. This article will analyse

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NEWS
Talk of a reserved ‘Welsh seat’ on the Supreme Court is misplaced. In NLJ this week, Professor Graham Zellick KC explains that the Constitutional Reform Act treats ‘England and Wales’ as one jurisdiction, with no statutory Welsh slot
The government’s plan to curb jury trials has sparked ‘jury furore’. Writing in NLJ this week, David Locke, partner at Hill Dickinson, says the rationale is ‘grossly inadequate’
A year after the $1.5bn Bybit heist, crypto fraud is booming—but so is recovery. Writing in NLJ this week, Neil Holloway, founder and CEO of M2 Recovery, warns that scams hit at least $14bn in 2025, fuelled by ‘pig butchering’ cons and AI deepfakes
After Woodcock confirmed no general duty to warn, debate turns to the criminal law. Writing in NLJ this week, Charles Davey of The Barrister Group urges revival of misprision or a modern equivalent
Family courts are tightening control of expert evidence. Writing in NLJ this week, Dr Chris Pamplin says there is ‘no automatic right’ to call experts; attendance must be ‘necessary in the interests of justice’ under FPR Pt 25
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