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.