ALBANY – The state’s highest court yesterday determined that a party does not run afoul of New York’s champerty statute if it takes assignment of rights to a claim and sues to collect a debt in which it already has a proprietary interest,
The Court of Appeals ruled unanimously that New York case law dating back to the mid-19th century has consistently drawn a distinction between the acquisition of a right solely in order to make money from contesting it in court and where a bona fide independent right is assigned and litigated.
