Third party litigation funding is relatively new in Denmark. Only just recently have we seen the first major court case based on litigation funding.

Until now litigation funding in Denmark has primarily been used to fund avoidance and liability claims arising out of bankruptcy estates. The prime example of this being the third party litigation funding of the 2.2 billion DKK liability claim raised by several bankruptcy estates in the O. W. Bunker Group against former management and advisors etc.

We believe that third party litigation funding will play an increasing role in Denmark in the future. The Danish legal system accommodates third party litigation funding, albeit there are a few restrictions on how and when a litigation funding agreement can be put in place.

While litigation funding in Denmark has started as a way for bankruptcy estates to fund avoidance and liability claims, we expect that litigation funding will spread and gain acceptance in several other legal areas. The most obvious areas being commercial disputes regarding e.g. breach of contract, business torts and intellectual property infringement.

Third party litigation funding in Denmark is interesting to foreign investors, because Den mark has a well-functioning and predictable court system, and because there at present are no real national suppliers of litigation funding.

Horten is one of Denmark's leading law firms and has, as one of the only firms in Denmark, advanced knowledge and experience within litigation funding.

Authors

Birgitte Frølund

Partner (H)

Jakob Tingskov

Partner (H)