Can I Get A Loan Against My Pending Car Accident Or Motorcycle Case?
When we are representing the interests of a catastrophically or severely injured individual who was the victim of someone else’s negligence, the issue always arises what can we do to help the victim support himself or herself during the pendency and until resolution of a case. At the experienced Philadelphia car accident law firm of Reiff & Bily, we handle first party wage loss and recovery of medical bills at no charge to our client. We charge a fee only on the third party portion of the case, namely compensatory and/or punitive damages. If there is not first party wage loss available, and such is the case with many motorcycle cases, the client must normally wait until the negligence case is settled to receive compensation. Many times a person is likely to turn to family or friends to borrow money and more and more victims are turning to independent non-recourse lawsuit funding companies.
Non-recourse lawsuit funding occurs when specifically independent companies provide a cash advance on the lawsuit on a non-recourse basis during of the pendency of the lawsuit. The monetary advance is solely contingent upon the outcome of the case and if you lose the case, the money provided is completely forgiven and is yours to keep. The only collateral that matters to the lawsuit funding company is the quality and possible success of the pending lawsuit. Of course, the funding company will consider your lawyer’s track record of success and credibility to make sure that they can count on an honest return of the advanced capital at the conclusion of the case.
The typical process for obtaining this type of financial assistance is quite simple. The independent financial company would have a brief intake conversation with you and your attorney to determine if your case has a high probability of success. They then want to review the records of the case to determine if the claim is meritorious and valid, and if so, for how much. This process can normally be handled in a 24 to 48 hour time period. After initial approval, the lawsuit funding company will ask your attorney for periodic reviews of the case to determine whether the case can afford additional or ongoing funding. Almost all of the companies that we have dealt with in the past do not obligate the client to repay the money unless and until you win or settle the case and the attorney collects the settlement proceeds. The lawsuit funding company asserts a lien against the settlement and works closely with the lawyers to relieve the financial pressure to settle the case too early for too little. This helps the client and the attorney, and hurts the insurance company who will attempt to make lowball offers recognizing the financial desperation of the client.
