Competition litigation funding

Abstract

Chapter 14 starts from the central premise that competition litigation is often complex, lengthy, and expensive. The developments in European countries show that there is an increasing demand for litigation funding, especially with the rise of collective damages actions in competition law. The litigation funding experience differs considerably across MS. The purpose of this chapter is to outline different methods of litigation funding in the context of competition litigation, considering the available evidence as to their purported effects on incentives to bring legal actions. It also addresses questions as to the advantages and disadvantages of different types of external funding, reviewing the existing theoretical and empirical evidence. Finally, it shows that risks of litigation funding may be overstated in the current policy debate and that competition litigation is likely to benefit from a liberal regulation of litigation funding.