Litigation companies fighting to enforce agreements they entered into with ex-NFL players seeking claims from the estimated $1 billion concussion settlement scored a partial win Friday when a federal appellate panel ruled that portions of the companies’ lending agreements may be enforceable.

A unanimous three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit ruled Friday that the district court judge overseeing the settlement implementation went beyond the court’s reach when she nullified the lending agreements in their entirety.