It started with the powerful spring storm that swept through central Indiana in April 2006, pummeling houses with golf ball–sized hailstones. In the aftermath, a roofing contractor sparred with State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co. over its treatment of affected homeowners. He wound up facing criminal charges that were at least partly based on evidence collected by State Farm—only to later win one of the largest defamation awards in U.S. history.
The remarkable reversal might not have happened without litigation funder Bentham IMF, which backed roofer Joseph Radcliff as he fought State Farm’s efforts to overturn his $14.5 million award. When Indiana’s Supreme Court refused to vacate the award in November, the U.S. subsidiary of Australia’s Bentham IMF Limited chalked up its first big victory since its 2011 launch. (State Farm declined to comment on the case.)
