Weak Economy is Forcing More Middle Class Plaintiffs to Seek Help from Lawsuit Funding Companies

Companies that provide cash advances to cash-starved plaintiffs waiting for pending litigation to be resolved are seeing a dramatic increase in the number of middle class people applying for lawsuit funding

New York, NY (PRWEB) June 12, 2008 -- Companies that provide cash advances to cash-starved plaintiffs waiting for pending litigation to be resolved are seeing a dramatic increase in the number of middle class people applying for lawsuit funding to help pay their mortgages and other basic living expenses, according to Ivona Perecman, whose Los Angeles-based legal funding company, Cash Express, LLC, provides a much-needed bridge between the financial pressures of plaintiffs and the successful prosecution of their cases.
   
"I recently had a client involved in a personal injury matter who needed money to pay for his daughter's wedding," Ms. Perecman explained. "This client had a serious accident in a New York City subway station more than a year ago and has been waiting for his day in court ever since. The New York City Transit Authority, the defendant in this case, has postponed the hearing six times.
   
According to Ms. Perecman, the tumult in the economy is wreaking havoc on the financial and emotional lives of middle class people who, like her client, are left financially exposed as a result of an injury and are unable to earn enough income for even basic needs such as food, housing, medication and transportation, let alone for big ticket items like weddings.   
   
"Nowadays," she commented, "people involved in an accident or negligence case can ill afford to miss work for a day, let alone weeks and months while they wait for their case to settle.
   
"Certain things are priceless," she added, "like your daughter's wedding. Providing lawsuit funding for this client, who lost his leg in the accident, helped him avoid the humiliation and heartbreak of upsetting his daughter's wedding plans. It has also helped him maintain some semblance of his middle class lifestyle."
   
Ms. Perecman also points out that in this very unstable real estate market, with housing prices plummeting and foreclosures at record levels, it makes sense for some plaintiffs to take advantage of the lawsuit financing option, particularly if they were in the market for a new home before their accident.
   
"I received a call the other day from a client who is looking for a cash advance of $50,000 against his personal injury lawsuit in order to buy a home for one of his children," Ms. Perecman said. "His lawyer told him it would take a minimum of two years before his case in concluded. According to Ms. Perecman, if he waits two years for the case to settle, the house her client is looking to buy today for $500,000 may be selling for $750,000. The delay would end up costing the buyer a lot more than the small fee he would pay Cash Express for his lawsuit funding advance.
   
"This is obviously a middle class person," Ms. Perecman explained. "Low income people don't buy half-a-million-dollar homes. In a temporarily difficult financial situation, most people don't want to put their lives on hold. Lawsuit advances and other types of legal funding such as structured settlements buyouts and probate funding are not only for people who are trying to make ends meet, they are also for people who are unable to support the lifestyle to which they have grown accustomed. As a result, we are seeing many more middle class plaintiffs getting their money out of their cases sooner rather than later."

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