Desk
7 pieces from this desk.
In the Galindo Law Firm bankruptcy, a Houston judge on October 1, 2026 approved a $7.5 million settlement with the trust handling chemical plant explosion victims' claims, while a funder asserting a $50 million lien fights over the firm's contingency fees.
Economics Desk · 12 min
The Apple $5.7 billion patent verdict: a San Diego jury found on 25 September 2026 that Apple owes Taction Technology $5,721,961,750 for two haptics patents. Burford Capital says about $1.4 billion is its share, in a case where Apple failed to subpoena the funders.
Economics Desk · 12 min
Hawaii's high court heard argument on 15 September over Maui wildfire attorney fees: Judge Cahill capped them at 3% to 10% and carved $222 million from the $4.037 billion settlement into a common benefit fund. Until the court rules, not one of 21,750 claimants gets paid.
Economics Desk · 13 min
The claim is that an email address became a permanent tracking identifier that survived cookie deletion. The procedural point is that the campaign was launched as a mass arbitration from the outset, with claimant recruitment running through a partner intake platform rather than a class definition.
Economics Desk · 3 min
Case management fees, not filing fees, were what made mass arbitration devastating. The AAA eliminated them. Here is what the numbers look like on either side of that change — and where the cost has migrated to.
Rules Desk · 3 min
Litigation funders increasingly finance mass arbitration campaigns. A funder's return depends on aggregate portfolio recovery; counsel owe duties to each individual claimant. No uniform disclosure regime exists to surface the tension.
Research Desk · 3 min
Litigation theory held that claims worth less than the cost of bringing them cannot be litigated without a procedural aggregation device. Mass arbitration showed that premise depended on institutional design — and everything since has been an attempt to restore it.
Research Desk · 4 min