Vermont Statutes Title 8. Banking and Insurance, § 2251. Definitions

(1) “Charges” means the amount a consumer owes to a company in addition to the funded amount and includes an administrative fee, origination fee, underwriting fee, processing fee, and any other fee regardless of how the fee is denominated, including amounts denominated as interest or rate.

(2) “Consumer” means a natural person who is seeking or has obtained consumer litigation funding for a pending legal claim, provided:

(3) “Consumer litigation funding” or “funding” means a nonrecourse transaction in which a company purchases and a consumer assigns to the company a contingent right to receive an amount of the potential net proceeds of a settlement or judgment obtained from the consumer's legal claim. If no proceeds or net proceeds are obtained, the consumer is not required to repay the company the funded amount or charges.

(4) “Consumer litigation funding company,” “litigation funding company,” or “company” means a person that provides consumer litigation funding to a consumer. The term does not include an immediate family member of the consumer.

(5) “Funded amount” means the amount of monies provided to, or on behalf of, the consumer pursuant to a litigation funding contract. The term excludes charges.

(6) “Health care facility” has the same meaning as in 18 V.S.A. § 9402(6).

(7) “Health care provider” has the same meaning as in 18 V.S.A. § 9402(7).

(8) “Litigation funding contract” or “contract” means a contract between a company and a consumer for the provision of consumer litigation funding.