Legal Landscape Blog

In recent weeks, the Federal Court of Canada and the Ontario Superior Court have given valuable guidance on litigation funding arrangements in Canada

Following the recent decision of the Queen’s Bench for Saskatchewan in Schneider v Royal Crown Gold Reserve Inc, six provinces have now set out the guiding principles for approving third-party litigation funding agreements. Although most decisions are in the class action context, they are instructive for general commercial litigation, the core of Bentham IMF’s business in Canada.

In our conversations introducing commercial litigation funding to the Canadian legal market, we are frequently asked about maintenance and champerty. Under current Canadian jurisprudence, third-party funding does not offend the doctrines of maintenance and champerty.

On April 4, 2016, Canadian mining company Crystallex International Corp. won a $1.38B arbitration award for Venezuela’s unlawful expropriation of its Las Cristinas gold mine. Crystallex’s claim was advanced with the support of a third-party litigation funder.