Multi-Party Litigation and Third-Party Funding of Litigation as a Response to Globalisation

Multi-party litigation refers to different legal mechanisms that facilitate groups of litigants with similar causes of action to bring consolidated legal claims to court. The rise of collective action regimes around the world reflects a trend in civil litigation which offers an alternative to the traditional bilateral model of litigation. This article considers the forms of multi-party litigation available in Ireland, the U.K., and the U.S. It argues that in order to be successful, systems of multi-party litigation must be supported by effective systems of litigation funding. To that end, this article considers the extent to which third-party funding of litigation is available across these jurisdictions. Third-party funding of litigation is a growing phenomenon whereby a third-party with no connection to the litigants and no interest in the subject-matter of the case will fund the litigation often but not always in return for a nominal reward. The practice is permitted to varying degrees across the U.S. however its standing in Ireland and the U.K. is on shaky ground. That said, third-party funding is under review in Ireland having been considered by Ireland's Law Reform Commission in a 2016 Issues Paper (referred to throughout this article), by a Review Group on the Administration of Civil Justice in 2020 chaired by former President of the High Court, Mr. Justice Peter Kelly, and by the Company Law Review Group in a 2021 report on corporate liquidation and restructuring. As well as evaluating the forms of multi-party litigation and litigation funding across several jurisdictions, this article considers how effective systems of collective action can provide recourse to victims of corporate-related injury and abuse. In circumstances such as this, the traditional bilateral approach to litigation may be off-putting given the imbalance of power that often exists in such cases between the injured party and the multinational corporation. Multi-party litigation, on the other hand, offers strength in numbers. It turns "singular disputes" into "group struggles" and may therefore empower litigants to collectively hold large corporations or indeed state-run bodies to account