But some business leaders have questioned the value of the litigation financing industry, said Lisa A. Rickard, president of the Institute for Legal Reform at the United States Chamber of Commerce.
But Mr. Scoppetta and Ms. Lowry, director of Children's Rights, a national advocacy organization, took diametrically opposed lessons from the settlement regarding the value of new litigation in the next stages of the overhaul.
"The settlement is even more gratifying because it underscores the value of private civil litigation to protect shareholder rights," Christopher McDonald, one of the lead lawyers representing investors, said in a statement.
According to a 1910 Q&A in the New York Times, the lawyers fees were "long since supposed to have eclipsed the value of the land in litigation".
The UnitedHealth case is also an example of the value of an effective special-litigation committee.
The government brushed Mr Davis aside by pointing out that neither the value of claims nor the volume of litigation have increased much recently: last year, accident claims actually fell by 9.5%.
At the low end, the cost of litigation exceeds the value of the license and this puts strong pressure on small vendors to take a license rather than litigate.
After several years of litigation, during which the value of the house shot up, a state judge ordered that the house be sold at auction at the courthouse to the highest bidder, with the final details of the auction to be set in the next few weeks.
Other claimants are likely to come forward, any disagreements with tax authorities over the value of the estate could result in litigation, and Minnesota courts haven't settled yet whether the rights to someone's likeness, such as Prince's, can be inherited.
Indeed, the cost of litigation would presumably quickly outstrip the value of the Washington City Paper".
