HOUSTON – Two years ago, Tammy Tran and her law firm filed a $10 million lawsuit against Sparks Funding, accusing the lawsuit lending company of being a “loan shark” that charged her interest under hidden calculation devices.
And while court records show that litigation has been dismissed, Sparks wasn’t quite done with Tran, as the lawsuit funder filed a domesticating foreign judgment last May in Harris County District Court.
The New York judgment was entered against Tran on June 28, 2019, in the amount of $252,145.55.
Tran filed a motion to vacate, which was overruled by operation of law, court records show.
Today, the First Court of Appeals affirmed the judgment of the trial court, concluding that Tran did not satisfy her burden to prove Spark Funding’s second Uniform Enforcement of Foreign Judgments Act proceeding was barred by res judicata.
Law firms sometimes procure high-interest litigation funding to fuel their mass-tort dockets.
In her past lawsuit against Sparks, Tran claimed that she tried to settle the dispute with the lawsuit lender amicably but Sparks “rushed” to a New York court to request entry of a cognovit judgment.
Cognovit judgment refers to a judgment entered after a written confession by the defendant without the expense of ordinary legal proceedings.
Tran dismissed the suit only three months after filing the litigation.
Appeal case No. 01-20-00564-CV