Can I get a cash advance on my lawsuit in Florida, and what does Florida law say?

By Michael Shemtoub, trial attorney, Beverly Law. Updated November 2026.

What Fausone v. U.S. Claims decided, and what it left open

Fausone was riding a bicycle in 2000 when a dump truck hit her. While her injury claims were pending she sold interests in them to several funders, then went to U.S. Claims, which consolidated the earlier advances. Between August 2001 and November 2002 she received about $30,000 from U.S. Claims. The contract required $42,890 if repaid before November 14, 2002, rising to $50,937 by May 14, 2003 (Fausone, 915 So. 2d 626).

Her claim settled for more than $200,000, and she told her lawyer not to pay the funder. U.S. Claims started arbitration in Philadelphia. Fausone filed a Florida suit calling the agreement unconscionable and usurious, but the trial court stayed it. She did not take part in the arbitration, and the arbitrator awarded U.S. Claims $72,117. She withdrew her motion to vacate, the award was confirmed, and the Second District Court of Appeal affirmed because she had raised nothing in the trial court that would justify refusing confirmation.

The court’s comments are what people quote. It said these deals are called litigation loans, but “the law does not regard them as loans because the corporation that gives money to the plaintiff has no right to recover” if the case fails. It added: “There appear to be no laws regulating such agreements in Florida,” and “They are not treated like consumer loans.” It also wrote that an accident victim “should not be further victimized by loan companies” and said it had “no authority to regulate these agreements,” leaving that to the Legislature.

Read Fausone for what it is. The case turned on arbitration procedure, so its remarks about loans are not a ruling that Florida usury law can never reach a nonrecourse advance. The wider question is covered on is a lawsuit cash advance a loan.

Florida usury and consumer finance limits

If a Florida court ever treated an advance as a loan, these statutes would set the limits.

• General usury cap. Section 687.02(1) declares usurious any contract for interest on a “loan, advance of money, line of credit” or other obligation above “the equivalent of 18 percent per annum simple interest.” A higher limit applies when the amount is over $500,000 (Fla. Stat. 687.02).
• Criminal usury. Knowingly and willfully charging more than 25 percent a year, up to 45 percent, is a second-degree misdemeanor; above 45 percent it is a third-degree felony. Subsection (7) says credit extended in violation of the section is not “an enforceable debt in the courts of this state” (Fla. Stat. 687.071).
• Consumer finance license. A “consumer finance loan” is a loan of $25,000 or less at more than 18 percent a year (Fla. Stat. 516.01), and making those loans requires a license from the Office of Financial Regulation (Fla. Stat. 516.02).

We found no Florida appellate decision applying any of these sections to a consumer lawsuit advance.

Champerty and maintenance in Florida

Two district courts of appeal have narrowed these old doctrines. In Kraft v. Mason (Fla. 4th DCA 1996), a plaintiff in a federal antitrust case borrowed $100,000 from his sister in exchange for repayment with interest plus percentages of any recovery, and the case later settled for $5,015,000. The court held that “officious intermeddling is a necessary element of champerty” and found the sister had not intermeddled: she did not start the case or try to steer it (Kraft v. Mason).

In Hardick v. Homol (Fla. 5th DCA 2001), the court held that champerty and maintenance “are not viable causes of action today, but instead, only remain as affirmative defenses” (795 So. 2d 1107). So in Florida, champerty is something a party raises against enforcement of a contract, and under Kraft a funder that neither starts nor steers the case is harder to attack on that ground.

What the Florida Bar has said

Florida Bar Ethics Opinion 00-3, approved March 15, 2002, states: “The Florida Bar discourages the use of non-recourse advance funding companies.” It declines to decide whether the deals are legal. Assuming they are, it says a lawyer may share factual case information with the client’s informed consent and may honor a valid written assignment of part of the recovery. A lawyer may not recommend the client’s matter to a funder or start contact for the client, co-sign the deal, issue a letter of protection, or take referral payments (Opinion 00-3). Ethics opinions are advisory.

Florida’s Rule 4-1.8(e) lets a lawyer advance “court costs and expenses of litigation,” with repayment contingent on the outcome. A Florida Bar ethics counsel wrote that the rule has “no exception for living expenses or gifts to indigent litigation clients” (Florida Bar News, 2020). For how lawyers usually deal with these contracts, see does my lawyer have to sign a funding contract.

The 2026 bills that did not pass

HB 1157, titled Litigation Financing, was filed January 7, 2026 and died in the House Civil Justice & Claims Subcommittee on March 13, 2026. Its summary covers court review of conflicts of interest, a notice requirement, limits on foreign funders, and enforcement under the Florida Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act.

The Senate bill, CS/SB 1396, titled Litigation Financing Consumer Protection, cleared the Judiciary Committee (8-2) and the Rules Committee as a committee substitute (13-10). Its last listed action, February 4, 2026, placed it on the calendar for a second reading, and the history shows no vote of the full Senate. Neither bill became law.

Your filing deadline in Florida

In 2023 the Legislature moved “An action founded on negligence” from the four-year list to the two-year list in section 95.11 (ch. 2023-15, approved March 24, 2023). Section 28 of that act says the change applies “to causes of action accruing after the effective date of this act” (enrolled HB 837). In the 2026 statutes the rule appears at section 95.11(5)(a). Other deadlines apply to some claims, and an advance does not pause yours.

What to ask before you sign

• Does the contract send disputes to arbitration, and where? Fausone shows how an out-of-state arbitration can end with a confirmed award.
• What do you owe at each date, and do the charges grow on a schedule like the one in Fausone? Our page on how a lawsuit advance is paid back explains payoff schedules.
• Is the contract written as a purchase of part of your claim? Fausone’s remarks relied on the funder having no right to recover if the case failed.

Common questions

Related pages

Cash advance on a lawsuit · Laws by state · Injury law FAQs

Important: This page is general information, not legal or medical advice, and reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship. Every case is different; talk to a lawyer about yours. Texas cases are handled by the firm’s Texas-licensed attorneys, Joyce Ondich and John Efstathiou. Last reviewed: November 7, 2026.