Alberto Thomas, Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Fideres, has published an op-ed in the Legal Funding Journal proposing fundamental reforms to UK class action funding following the Innsworth Capital-Mastercard fee dispute.
Thomas argues that current funding structures are fundamentally flawed, stating: « The real threat to collective redress isn’t judicial attitudes toward fee awards—it’s the structural limitations of how litigation funding operates. »
The analysis proposes separating litigation risk from funding through After-the-Event (ATE) insurance markets, enabling access to traditional capital markets. This approach would mirror successful risk transfer mechanisms that transformed credit markets in the 1990s.
« Without structural reform, the UK class action system risks permanent ineffectiveness, leaving millions of consumers without practical access to justice, » Thomas writes.