Litigation Funding

Trem-bala, the "bullet train", was supposed to be a high-speed train connecting Sao Paulo to Rio de Janeiro. This project was launched in 2009, and it was supposed to be concluded by the time of the 20th FIFA World Cup, in 2014. However, for lack of funds, it never came into existence. This event seriously affected commuters, but the Italian engineering company "Italplan" was also seriously preju-diced by this fact, since it was in charge of the feasibility study for the Trem-bala project and its agreed considera-tion was approximately 250 million euros. Nonetheless, the state of Brazil did not settle its debts, and Italplan became insolvent and went bankrupt, with many repercussions for its creditors. Although the state of Brazil refused to pay, the Italian Court of Arezzo recognised the legitimacy of the Italplan's request. With regard to this episode, Luciano Cas-telli, partner at LCA Law Firm, tells us that for companies it is a widespread problem to obtain the