FL Accident Lawsuit Funding

Accident lawsuit funding in Florida--or elsewhere in the United States--can be a minefield for the injured party seeking financial help, often due to a settlement taking too long to come through. Until the late 1990s, in fact, no financial help existed for injury victims, since the American Bar Association and state bars forbade (and still forbid) lawyers from advancing funds to clients. Thus, lawsuit funding is a new "industry" for investors, harboring good guys and bad guys.

When a lawsuit funding company offers to advance much needed cash to injury victims, it is perceived as a loan against future monies that will be received in the settlement. In actual fact, it is an investment for those entrepreneurs who put their assets together to do the funding. Since the advance is an investment and not a loan, usury laws do not apply to it, and this is where a desperate patient or his/her family must exercise caution.

An injury victim often incurs high medical expenses that exceed what his insurance covers. He may also lose his family's home and experience other highly stressful financial harm. Yet he must be very careful not to sign any agreement or contract that carries enormous monthly interest charges. To do so could result in his owing more to the advance funding company than he will receive from his claim after all the other medical and legal expenses are paid. He must look into other offers, in order to compare the interest rates that are being charged.