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Full-Text Articles in Law
Tax Ferrets, Tax Consultants, Bounty Hunters, And Hired Guns: The Property Tax Netherworld Fueled By Contingency Fees And Champertous Agreements, J. Lyn Entrikin
Tax Ferrets, Tax Consultants, Bounty Hunters, And Hired Guns: The Property Tax Netherworld Fueled By Contingency Fees And Champertous Agreements, J. Lyn Entrikin
Faculty Scholarship
Contingency fee agreements between local tax assessors and contract auditors on the one hand, and property owners and private tax consultants on the other, create perverse financial incentives that undermine the integrity of state and local tax administration. When local governments engage outside auditors to identify undervalued or escaped taxable property, the practice raises serious due process and ethical concerns. As a matter of policy, diverting a share of property tax revenue to private third parties in consideration for outsourced tax assessment services undermines public accountability and reduces net property tax revenue for local government services. And when states allow …
Third Party Funding Of Personal Injury Tort Claims: Keep The Baby And Change The Bathwater, Terrence Cain
Third Party Funding Of Personal Injury Tort Claims: Keep The Baby And Change The Bathwater, Terrence Cain
Faculty Scholarship
In the early 1990s, a period of high-risk lending at high interest rates, a new entrant emerged in civil litigation: the Litigation Finance Company (“LFC”). LFCs advance money to plaintiffs involved in contingency fee litigation. The money is provided on a non-recourse basis, meaning the plaintiff repays the LFC only if she obtains money from the lawsuit through a settlement, judgment, or verdict. If the plaintiff does not recover anything, she will not owe the LFC anything. When she does repay the LFC, however, she could end up paying as much as 280% of the amount advanced by the LFC. …