Litigation Funder Wins $1.2 Million Over Lawyer-Judge Connection

A Texas attorney must pay $1.2 million to a litigation funder that sued him for malpractice after he failed to disclose a conflict of interest involving a judge, a US district court ruled.

The attorney, Sergio Muñoz Jr., failed to tell his ex-client, Law Funder LLC, he had a business relationship with a judge presiding over a case the company joined because of its litigation investments, the firm alleged in a lawsuit.

Muñoz’s conflict of interest “rises to the level of a clear and serious breach of duty,” District Judge Micaela Alvarez wrote in a Sept. 16 order in McAllen, ...