Commerce Committee hears HB 733 to require disclosure of third‑party litigation financing

Representative Robert Cole, prime sponsor of House Bill 733, told the House Commerce and Consumer Affairs Committee that the bill would require disclosure of third‑party litigation financing and other “common sense” guardrails for an industry the sponsor described as large and largely unregulated.

"What is TPLF or third party litigation financing? It is when an investor helps finance a lawsuit in which the investor has no personal stake," Representative Cole said. "TPLF is estimated to be a $400,000,000,000 global industry." He pointed committee members to bill sections that define covered foreign entities and the three reporting requirements he said appear on page 9 of the draft.

The bill would require disclosure of litigation‑funding arrangements to the other parties in litigation and to the courts, and it would establish registration or reporting to a state office for funders. Cole framed the measure as a transparency reform aimed at reducing what he called "tort tax" pressures on insurance and consumer prices.

Brandon Gerat, Senior Assistant Attorney General and chief of the Consumer Protection and Antitrust Bureau at the New Hampshire Department of…