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Version 00 · Introduced in House · Feb 7, 2025
Litigation Transparency Act of 2025
This bill generally requires parties in a civil action to disclose to the court and other named parties the identity of any person (other than counsel) that has a right to receive a payment or thing of value contingent upon the outcome of the civil action. The bill also requires parties to produce the agreement creating the contingent right to payment or a thing of value.
These requirements apply to claims that are pending on or commenced after this bill's date of enactment.
People & committees
Rep. Issa, Darrell [R-CA-48] · R–CA
Legislative record
A procedural vote is different from passage. Passage in one chamber does not establish enactment. Explore the glossary.
Committee Consideration and Mark-up Session Held
Committee Consideration and Mark-up Session Held
Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary.
Introduced in House
Introduced in House
Primary sources
Text links open the official source. We also preserved the text version used in the PlainBill explanation below.
Source last updated: Oct 2, 2026. Consult Congress.gov for the current record.
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PlainBill explanation
Based on the full Introduced in House · 2025-02-07 text. This explanation has not received human editorial review. This overview describes the proposal’s major provisions; it does not establish what its real-world effects would be.
The proposed Litigation Transparency Act of 2025 would require parties or their lawyers in civil lawsuits to identify outsiders entitled to payments or other value that depend on the lawsuit’s outcome, and to provide the underlying agreements. It excludes lawyers representing the parties from the identification requirement and provides exceptions for certain loan repayments and attorney-fee reimbursements. It would cover both pending and newly filed cases if enacted.
This Act may be cited as the Litigation Transparency Act of 2025.
(1) disclose in writing to the court and all other named parties to the civil action the identity of any person (other than counsel of record) that has a right to receive any payment or thing of value that is contingent on the outcome of the civil action or a group of actions of which the civil action is a part; and (2) produce to the court and to each other named party to the civil action, for inspection and copying, any agreement creating a contingent right referred to in paragraph (1), including any ancillary agreement or document, except as otherwise stipulated or ordered by the court.
The requirements under subsection (a) shall not apply with respect to a person that has a right to receive payment described in subsection (a)(1) if the right to receive payment is solely— (1) the repayment of the principal of a loan; (2) the repayment of the principal of a loan plus interest that does not exceed the higher of 7 percent or a rate two times the annual average 30-year constant maturity Treasury yield, as published by the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, for the year preceding the date on which the relevant agreement was executed; or (3) the reimbursement of attorney’s fees.
The amendments made by this Act shall apply to any civil action pending on or commenced after the date of enactment of this Act.
Section 2 would add a disclosure requirement to title 28 of the United States Code. A party or its lawyer would have to identify, in writing to the court and every other named party, anyone other than a lawyer representing a party who has a right to value dependent on the outcome of the lawsuit or a group of lawsuits that includes it, subject to the stated exceptions.
Chapter 111 of title 28, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following: 1660. Third-party beneficiary disclosure (a) In general Except as provided in subsection (b), in any civil action, a party or any counsel of record for a party shall— (1) disclose in writing to the court and all other named parties to the civil action the identity of any person (other than counsel of record) that has a right to receive any payment or thing of value that is contingent on the outcome of the civil action or a group of actions of which the civil action is a part;
The party or lawyer would also have to provide the agreements creating those outcome-dependent rights, including related agreements or documents, to the court and other named parties for inspection and copying. This requirement could be modified by stipulation—an agreement between the parties—or a court order.
(2) produce to the court and to each other named party to the civil action, for inspection and copying, any agreement creating a contingent right referred to in paragraph (1), including any ancillary agreement or document, except as otherwise stipulated or ordered by the court.
The disclosure and agreement-production requirements would not apply when a person’s outcome-dependent payment right consists solely of repayment of the amount loaned, or repayment plus interest within a specified cap. The cap would be the higher of 7 percent or twice the Federal Reserve’s published annual average 30-year constant maturity Treasury yield for the year before the agreement was signed.
The requirements under subsection (a) shall not apply with respect to a person that has a right to receive payment described in subsection (a)(1) if the right to receive payment is solely— (1) the repayment of the principal of a loan; (2) the repayment of the principal of a loan plus interest that does not exceed the higher of 7 percent or a rate two times the annual average 30-year constant maturity Treasury yield, as published by the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, for the year preceding the date on which the relevant agreement was executed;
A person whose outcome-dependent payment right consists solely of reimbursement of attorney’s fees would also be exempt from the disclosure and agreement-production requirements.
The requirements under subsection (a) shall not apply with respect to a person that has a right to receive payment described in subsection (a)(1) if the right to receive payment is solely—
(3) the reimbursement of attorney’s fees.
Required disclosures would be due by whichever comes later: 10 days after the agreement is signed or the filing of the lawsuit.
The disclosures required by subsection (a) shall be made not later than the later of— (1) 10 days after the execution of any agreement described in subsection (a)(2); or (2) the time of the filing of the action before the court.
A party or lawyer would have to promptly supplement or correct a disclosure after learning that it is materially incomplete or incorrect, unless the information had already been provided to the other parties through the exchange of evidence or in writing. Courts could also order supplements or corrections.
A party or counsel of record that made a disclosure required by this section shall supplement or correct each such disclosure in a timely manner— (1) if such party or counsel of record learns that the disclosure is or has become incomplete or incorrect in some material respect, if the additional or corrective information has not otherwise been made known to the other parties during the discovery process or in writing; or (2) as ordered by the court.
Section 3 would apply the amendments to lawsuits already pending on the enactment date and to lawsuits begun on or after that date.
The amendments made by this Act shall apply to any civil action pending on or commenced after the date of enactment of this Act.
The supplied actions snapshot, updated October 2, 2026, records introduction and referral to the House Judiciary Committee on February 7, 2025, followed by committee consideration and markup sessions on November 18 and 19, 2025.
Source snapshot updated 2026-10-02T08:06:21Z. 2025-11-19: Committee Consideration and Mark-up Session Held 2025-11-18: Committee Consideration and Mark-up Session Held 2025-02-07: Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary. 2025-02-07: Introduced in House
A closer look
Reviewed version: Introduced in House · 2025-02-07. These findings describe provisions and who may benefit; they are not judgments of waste, corruption, or motive.
This review covers the supplied bill text. “None identified” does not rule out provisions in later versions or accompanying reports and disclosures.
Provisions outside the bill’s main subject, or policy changes attached to appropriations.
None identified in the reviewed text
No unrelated provision or policy change attached to appropriations was identified in the complete supplied introduced text. This conclusion is limited to that version and does not establish the contents of other versions or accompanying materials.
Spending directed to particular recipients or places outside ordinary competitive or formula-based allocation.
None identified in the reviewed text
No congressionally directed spending for particular recipients or places was identified in the complete supplied introduced text. This conclusion is limited to that version; accompanying earmark materials are not supplied.
Narrow exceptions, exemptions, or preferential treatment that warrant a closer look.
Findings to examine
The supplied text contains narrow exceptions to the proposed disclosure requirements. These are directly related to the main policy; identifying them does not establish that they are improper.
Recipients whose outcome-dependent payment rights consist solely of loan principal, or principal plus interest within the specified cap, would receive an exception from disclosure of their identities and production of their agreements. This gives qualifying loan arrangements different treatment under the bill’s transparency requirements.
The requirements under subsection (a) shall not apply with respect to a person that has a right to receive payment described in subsection (a)(1) if the right to receive payment is solely— (1) the repayment of the principal of a loan; (2) the repayment of the principal of a loan plus interest that does not exceed the higher of 7 percent or a rate two times the annual average 30-year constant maturity Treasury yield, as published by the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, for the year preceding the date on which the relevant agreement was executed;
Recipients whose outcome-dependent payment rights consist solely of reimbursement of attorney’s fees would receive an exception from the proposed identity-disclosure and agreement-production requirements.
The requirements under subsection (a) shall not apply with respect to a person that has a right to receive payment described in subsection (a)(1) if the right to receive payment is solely—
(3) the reimbursement of attorney’s fees.
Full text preserved for this analysis. Legislative record snapshot: Oct 2, 2026. How PlainBill uses AI