In some corners of the legal profession, litigation funding is viewed as a factor in the emergence of so-called nuclear settlements in civil litigation. But as is often the case when litigation funding is discussed, there’s not much middle ground.

Nuclear settlements have been defined as large settlements based mainly on intangibles, such as pain and suffering, rather than more concrete forms of damages, such as medical bills. And defense lawyers say nuclear settlements fit handily into their concept of social inflation, a term used to explain the high cost of civil litigation.