Litigation

I'm sorry to have to have lift my leg... AGAIN... on the Forge Consulting "fire hydrant", but something still just isn't right, 2 years after I first brought this up.

A. "  We have over 5,000 cases under our belt, with a dollar exposure of over $8 billion" Forge Consulting, LLC brochure printed on or about July 2006 and distributed at the Seattle ATLA meeting 2006 and AAJ Winter meeting 2007.

B. "Since the inception of his practice in 1999, John (Bair) has facilitated the settlements of more than 2,000 cases, with a total dollar exposure in excess of $5 billion Forge Consulting, LLC web site bio of John Bair, accessed 06/03/2007.

C. Since the inception of his practice in 1999, John (Bair) has facilitated the settlements of more than 2,000 cases, with a total dollar exposure in excess of $5 billion Forge Consulting, LLC web site bio of John Bair, accessed 08/12/2009

Over 5 years ago I had the occasion to speak to John Bair when he Forge was in its infancy after I saw the exact same "statistic" in B and C. With a healthy degree of skepticism I called him up to congratulate him on his advertised  "remarkable success" in only a few years. He revealed to me then that the dollar exposure was not actually the amount of structured settlement premium, as it suggests, but the open insurance policy or demand. For example, if Meghan Klutz tweaks her ankle by slipping on a banana peel in the El Chimpo hotel lobby and she settles her claim for $50,000, but the hotel has $50 million policy limits, Bair, and one must presume FORGE Consulting, apparently calls THAT "the exposure". It's a Forge Consulting "trompe d'oeil"! For those unfamilar with this term, it refers to a painter, who  stupifies the observer with "tricks of the eye" that give the appearance of a third dimension.

I suppose the manipulation of the words "dollar exposure", to "swing your pendulum" as it where, might resonate if you were pitching a property and casualty insurer,  and then only IF the claims adjuster or defense attorney were counting on FORGE to negotiate their case to save them "exposure". It's not clear however, why the "dollar exposure" would be significant to a plaintiff attorney, plaintiff, "plantiff attorney" or "plantiff" considering engaging FORGE Consulting as a structured settlement broker or settlement planner. The company's listing on the NYSTLA website says it "provides exclusive representation to the plaintiff in the analysis and/or development of any Structured Settlement.

The company still falsely advertises in multiple places that it is "the first major new firm in the structured settlement industry in more than a decade" (see for example, websites of the Massachusetts Academy of Trial Attorneys, Pennsylvania Association for Justice). It's puzzling why FORGE Consulting, LLC continues to use smoke and mirrors.

Given its professional stature and with "all the goodwill that money can buy" (for what it pays to various TLAs), and of course the value of the  "testimonial" of John Edwards, it shouldn't have to resort to "credential exaggeration".