Litigation funding is a way for plaintiffs to stay in a case. Because now they have the financial ability to see the case through to the end. It is most known in the US for it's ties to personal injury lawsuits, however commercial litigants can also benefit from the industry.
In this article I found at Lawyers Weekly it discusses the expansion of the litigation funding business to Canada.
The high cost of litigation can be an obstacle for some plaintiffs, and even more so when these parties are suing for personal injuries they have suffered which have rendered them unable to work. A new source of funding now aims to help them fight their lawsuits through to a settlement or judgment. Known as third party litigation funding, the relatively new resource in Canada has been around for some time in jurisdictions such as the U.S. and the U.K., where it has received both praise and criticism.
Third party litigation funding helps finance litigation by providing loans to plaintiffs to help pay for certain expenses incurred in the course of a lawsuit. The money can be used to pay for legal disbursements such as medical assessments and expert reports, or it can be used to pay for day-to-day living expenses and rehabilitation costs. It is often the last resort for the plaintiff, who is usually unable to obtain loans from conventional sources such as banks.
Source: LawyersWeekly.com
