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ARTICLE · 25 OCTOBER 2014

Excalibur Judgment Changes Playing Field In Litigation Funding Market

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The claim against the non-party funders is the tail end of an epic $1.6bn claim by Excalibur Ventures LLC against the US oil company, Texas Keystone Inc.

United KingdomLitigation, Mediation & Arbitration
Christopher Coffin
Christopher Coffin
Lesley Timms
Lesley Timms
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Background to the underlying claim

The claim against the non-party funders is the tail end of an epic $1.6bn claim by Excalibur Ventures LLC against the US oil company, Texas Keystone Inc.  Excalibur contended that it had been unlawfully cut out of a deal with Texas which would have given it a 30% interest in four petroleum blocks in Kurdistan. After a 57 day trial the longest heard in the history of the Commercial Court, the judge handed down judgment in October 2013 in which he dismissed all of Excalibur's claims and ordered it to pay the defendants' costs on the indemnity basis. One of the reasons why Excalibur was ordered to pay costs on the indemnity, rather than standard, basis was the way in which Excalibur and its solicitors, Clifford Chance LLP, had conducted the case.

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