When Cases Are Ineligible For Legal Funding

TriMark Legal Funding has provided fast, innovative pre settlement and post settlement legal funding options to injured plaintiffs, and some pretty powerful litigation financing solutions to attorneys and law firms since 2003.

Qualifying for legal funding is a snap. IF you have the right kind of case, that is. Not everyone does, however. The truth is a LOT of people don’t.

In fact, millions of would-be clients over the last two decades have found that qualifying for a cash advance against their pending can be tricky at best, and at worst, downright impossible.

I’m Ineligible; But I Still Need Money

If you have been told that your case is ineligible for legal funding, that’s it; it’s done. You can debate the reasons forever, but at this point, the reasons don’t really matter, do they?

What DOES matter is the fact that you still need money ASAP. And since lawsuit funding is off the table, you need to find another way.

But don’t worry, because TriMark has you covered.

Ineligible Case Types

Listed below are some of the types of cases that routinely get denied for legal funding or are ineligible for funding consideration. The list is pretty self-explanatory, but if you have questions about any of them, feel free to give us a call at (877) 932-2628.

Plaintiffs Only

• Legal funding is only available to plaintiffs; defendants are ineligible

Civil Cases Only

• Funding is only available on civil lawsuits; criminal lawsuits are ineligible

Attorney or Law Firm Won’t Cooperate

• Attorney involvement is mandatory. If your attorney will not participate, you are ineligible.

Damage Award Payments Must Pass Through Attorney’s Trust Account

• To be eligible for legal funding, all damage awards must:
  • Be paid by an insurance company
  • Be a single lump sum payment; tiered or incremental payments are ineligible
  • Pass through, and be disbursed from, the plaintiff attorney’s trust account
• Cases where award is disbursed directly to claimant, such as class action lawsuits, are ineligible.
• Cases where award is paid by the defendant directly, rather than by the defendant’s insurance company, are ineligible.

Default Judgments

• A negotiated settlement is mandatory.
• Any non-negotiated award, court-ordered judgment, or default judgment is ineligible.

Excessive Prior Funding

• If you have received prior funding on your case from another company, we must arrange a pre settlement funding buyout as part of your new funding. If the amount owed exceeds a certain percentage of the anticipated net amount, it is considered excessive prior funding and your case may be deemed ineligible at that time.
• NOTE: The percentage referenced above is subject to change throughout the course of a case. For example, attorneys may add additional damages and additional surgeries and other factors can increase a case’s initial estimated value. Also, the allowable percentage increases dramatically once a case’s status changes from pending to settled. While a case may have excessive prior funding for a pre settlement advance, it may qualify for a post settlement advance once a settlement agreement has been reached.

Insufficient Insurance | No Insurance

• Cases where the defendant has no insurance, or insufficient total coverage for the magnitude of loss, are ineligible. Example: car accidents with serious injuries where the defendant only carried state-minimum coverage amounts.
• Cases where plaintiff attorney intends to recover damages from defendant’s personal assets rather than, or in addition to an insurance policy, or a policy with insufficient coverage limits, are ineligible.

Insufficient Injuries

• Cases where the most serious injuries are minor cuts, scrapes, scratches, minor “road rash”, any type of bruising, lacerations, whiplash, concussion, memory loss, hairline fractures, nerve pain, nerve damage, generalized pain, muscle pain, immobility, bleeding, sprains, headaches, head pain, back pain, knee pain, shoulder pain, and non-specific, unspecified or undiagnosed “brain injuries”, “spinal injuries”, “neck injuries”, “head injuries”, “back injuries”, etc., are ineligible.
• Cases where the only medical treatment sought or received was accident-scene-only treatment by EMT, ambulance ride or a single trip to the ER without hospital admission or follow-up, chiropractic care, injections, joint manipulation, pain meds only, etc., are ineligible.
• Cases where the plaintiff skips, misses, cancels, opts-out of, or chooses not to undergo any physician-recommended surgery or course of treatment are generally ineligible.

Mass Tort Litigation (On Hold)

• Mass tort litigation on hold cases are mass tort cases that we were funding on at some point, but due to a development with the case, we suspended funding, pending the outcome of an event – usually a court ruling of some sort. Examples of this include the Boy Scout Abuse lawsuit, the Hertz False Arrest lawsuit, the Roundup lawsuit, the Talcum Powder lawsuit, and the 3M Earplug lawsuit.

Mass Tort Litigation (Settled Cases Only)

• Mass tort litigation settled cases only are cases that we have provided pre-settlement funding on pending cases in the past, but no longer do. We only offer funding where the case has settled and the gross or net award to the plaintiff is known. Examples of this include Hernia Mesh lawsuits, Essure lawsuits, Risperdal lawsuits, IVC filter lawsuits, Transvaginal Mesh lawsuits, and Xarelto lawsuits.

Mass Tort Litigation (Not Funding Yet)

• Mass tort litigation not funding yet cases are mass torts or MDL’s that we are actively monitoring, and we may or may not offer funding on them in the future. Examples include the AFFF Firefighting Foam lawsuit, the Elmiron MDL, the Camp Lejeune water lawsuit _{(benefit info for affected veterans)}, JUUL E-Cigarette lawsuits, Opioid lawsuits, Paragard IUD lawsuits, CPAP Machine recall lawsuits, the Injectafer lawsuit, Infant Formula NEC lawsuits, and Paraquat Weedkiller lawsuits.

Minors

• Any case where the injured party is currently under the age of 18 is ineligible.

Not Represented By A Contingent Fee Attorney

Simply stated, if you are not represented by a contingent fee attorney, you are ineligible for legal funding. There are no exceptions.

• Anyone choosing to negotiate directly with an insurance company, either on any type of civil case, a FELA railroad injury lawsuit, a Jones Act lawsuit, or a workers compensation claim, is ineligible.
• Self-representation (pro se), free representation (pro bono), and state or federally-appointed representation such as the EEOC (US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission) are all ineligible.

Plaintiff Has Significant Legal Problems

• Significant legal problems can include arrests or convictions for any type of fraud, theft, financial crimes, behavior indicative of a deceptive, predatory, or unsavory character, or open bankruptcy filings, open child support lien(s), open state tax lien(s), open federal tax lien(s), active arrest warrant(s), and cases where the plaintiff is currently incarcerated are all ineligible.

Plaintiff Negligence

• Cases where plaintiff negligence was fully or partly responsible for causing the accident or injuries are ineligible.

Prohibited States

There are currently 8+ states where legal funding is just outright prohibited by law. The states where legal funding is prohibited are:

Restricted States

A few states have state-imposed restrictions on legal funding. Most notable are:

• Depending on the specific restriction, legal funding may, or may not, be available in a particular state.

Workers Comp Claims

• Federal workers compensation claims are ineligible.
• Longshoreman claims are ineligible.
• Workers comp claims with any prior funding are ineligible.
• Workers comp settlement loans are only allowed in 10 states.

The 40+ states where workers comp loans are not available are: