West Virginia Code 46A-6N-9 – Fees; terms; incorporation of obligations in agreement
(a) A litigation financier may not charge the consumer an annual fee of more than 18 percent of the original amount of money provided to the consumer for the litigation financing transaction.
Terms Used In West Virginia Code 46A-6N-9
- Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
- in writing: includes any representation of words, letters, or figures, whether by printing, engraving, writing, or otherwise. See West Virginia Code 2-2-10
- Litigation: A case, controversy, or lawsuit. Participants (plaintiffs and defendants) in lawsuits are called litigants.
(b) Litigation financiers shall not charge a consumer the annual fee authorized by §46A-6N-9(a) of this code more than one time each year with regard to any single legal claim regardless of the number of litigation financing transactions that the litigation financier enters into with the consumer with respect to such legal claim.
(c) Fees assessed by a litigation financier may compound semiannually but may not compound based on any lesser time period.
(d) In calculating the annual percentage fee or rate of return, a litigation financier must include all charges payable directly or indirectly by the consumer, and must compute the rate based only on amounts actually received and retained by the consumer.
(e) A litigation financier may not assess fees for any period exceeding 42 months from the date of the contract with the consumer.
(f) Litigation financiers shall not enter into an agreement with a consumer that has the effect of incorporating the consumer’s obligations to the litigation financier that are contained in the original litigation financing transaction into a subsequent litigation financing transaction.
(g) Litigation financiers shall not knowingly provide financing to a consumer who has previously assigned and/or sold a portion of the consumer’s right to proceeds from his or her legal claim without first making payment to and/or purchasing a prior unsatisfied litigation financier’s entire funded amount and contracted charges unless a lesser amount is otherwise expressly agreed to in writing by the litigation financiers; except multiple litigation financiers may agree to contemporaneously provide financing to a consumer, provided that the consumer and the consumer’s attorney consent to the agreement in writing.