Eric Eckhardt, United States
ReachCaseRight
CaseRight for Mass Torts
How CaseRight is Assisting Firms with the California Wildfire Settlement
With 67,000 plaintiffs and a complex settlement distribution process, Reach Law Tech has partnered with a financial administration firm to deploy CaseRight to manage distribution payments to plaintiffs, and disbursements of legal fees, referral fees and expenses.
With smart workflow customizations, managing special instructions, Wildfire Assistance Program Payments and applying calculations to raw payment data, distributions are streamlined and completely auditable.
Figure 1.1 – Breakdown of applied settlement calculations for each payment round
Preliminary Payments
Getting funds into the hands of their plaintiffs was a firm priority. By advancing settlement funds, the firm is able to accomplish this in between settlement distributions from the Fire Victims Trust. CaseRight tracks these preliminary payments and calculates adjusted settlement funds when distributed, along with applicable adjustments to attorney and referral fees.
Settlement Distributions
When settlement funds are disbursed, CaseRight tracks aggregate payments made against anticipated total award, and flags deviations throughout the process. Expenses are tracked, and Attorney Fees are calculated based on the fee agreement for each plaintiff (gross vs net & %). Referral fees are also automatically allocated based on referral agreement terms with each referring counsel.
Payment Instructions
Banking information is memorialized in the system for wire transfers, or any specific instructions pertaining to check payments. This includes the possibility of creating a payment portal for plaintiffs to login, review their settlement statements and update their payment instructions and contact information.
Reporting
Applying analytics and data visualization best practices, CaseRight provides both the financial administrator and the firm with live updates on settlement progress including financial summaries, pipeline statuses and exceptions.
Pricing
For Settlement Distribution projects, Reach Law Tech charges a marginal customization fee to meet individual settlement program & firm requirements, then a flat per-plaintiff distribution fee payable at distribution.
CaseRight offers an end-to-end solution for Mass Tort firms to streamline plaintiff and co-counsel communication, manage case data, file claims and efficiently distribute settlement funds to plaintiffs with all appropriate disbursements.
Figure 1.2 – An overview of the user experience during a Mass Tort