Litigation

Disturbing Story Concerning 28CFR 50.24 Declarations to USDOJ

Posted on February 18, 2008
I recently heard from a plaintiff broker that a plaintiff attorney client told them to sign the declaration to get on the USDOJ structured settlement broker list even with provision 50.24(a)(6) which attests to defendant services provided in the previous 3 years...

Life Insurance In Personal Injury Settlement Planning

Posted on February 17, 2008
Life insurance may be an important element of a settlement plan when the settlement involves a minor child or incapacitated adult, particularly if the parents are the primary caregivers. Life insurance can be used to finance the cost of a replacement caregiver, or someone who will replace certain services that were provided for by the caregiver...

Structured Settlement Clean Vendor List Now Up to 5% of Structured Settlement Industry

Posted on February 16, 2008
Are You, Your Law Firm, or Your Trial Lawyer Association Patronizing Those Who Would Throw a Drowning Tort Victim An Anchor? A White Paper By John D. Darer, CLU ChFC CSSC 4structures.com, LLC Stamford, CT  1/26/2008 Introduction Legendary trial lawyer Joe Jamail recently told the members The National Structured Settlement Trade Association that a structured settlement was like ?a helping hand? that protects the ?needy from the greedy?...

DealFlow Media Structured Settlements Wire Story A Big Stretch

Posted on February 15, 2008
On February 6, 2006 915am PST DealFlow Media posted a story which suggests that a heightened level of scrutiny could come to the structured settlement industry in 2008 with the Security and Exchange Commissions approval of NASD Rule 2821. While DealFlow admits that the rule does not directly affect structured settlements, it claims that there is a potential to be aimed at structured settlements brokers, but states no jurisdictional basis...

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NSSTA President Clarifies Story Concerning Executive Director Search

Posted on February 15, 2008
On January 31, 2008, Smith Bucklin released a press release which announced that Diane Swenson would be the Executive Director of two associations it manages, one of them being the National Structured Settlements Trade Association(NSSTA). That release was followed by a February 8, 2008 post reiterating the same on DealFlow Media's Structured Settlements Wire ( as an aside, in the same post DealFlow Media inaccurately reported that Randy Dyer had been "ousted"...

DOJ Structured Settlements... "Perjury" or "False Advertising" Redux

Posted on February 15, 2008
You would think that after the exposure given to the 28CFR 50.24 (a)(6) in this blog that so-called "plaintiff only "brokers would give it a rest as far as trying to get on the Department of Justice list. After all each broker much attest, under the Federal penalty for perjury, that he or she has provided substantial structured settlement services to or on behalf of defendants in each of the past 3 years...

Yesterday It Was the Structured Settlement "Industry" Today It's a "Market"...Or "For Whom the DealFlows"

Posted on February 15, 2008
The story is that structured settlement industry (that is those that create structured settlements) are starting to question DealFlow Media's approach with its "Structured Settlements Report" and the response is very interesting. On February 8, 2008 the DealFlow Media Director of Sales represented that "its weekly Structured Settlements Wire has already been distributed to more than 5,000 professionals in the Structured Settlements industry" in an attempt to solicit Summit Settlement Services general agent Stan K...

DealFlow Media Advertising Sales Pitch..."This Way To Egress"

Posted on February 14, 2008
DealFlow Media is now making the rounds seeking your hard earned capital for advertising space in its "Structured Settlements Report". If its first issue is anything to go by, DealFlow media has not done an accurate assessment of the structured settlement industry and the investment of any intellectual or financial capital by those involved in creating structured settlements should be avoided...

West Virginia House Bill 4380 Seems Good For Tort Victims, so WTF?

Posted on February 14, 2008
As reported today by noted author and factoring promoter, Patrick Johann Hindert, the West Virginia House Banking and Insurance Committee is considering House Bill 4380 which would amend and reenact Section 46A-6H-3 of the Code of West Virginia titled "Transfers of Right to Receive Future Payments" (i...

Peer Pressure Working in Buffalo and Hartwell?

Posted on February 14, 2008
Buffalo, NY based structured settlement firm Forge Consulting, LLC apparently took our "Beer Brewer" needle to heart and has corrected the assignees on its corporate website. However in displaying its usual "penchant for detail" it has overlooked an important facet of the "Beer Brewer" needle, thus appearing to make it non compliant with New York Insurance Advertising rules...

"Guitar Picking" Scallywag Deceives Consumers on Structured Settlements as Shill for JG Wentworth Companies

Posted on February 13, 2008
On a website called structuredsettlementsum.com, Chicago, Illinois' Bob Molton, whose self proclaimed expertise is guitar picking and structured settlements, has placed the words 'structured settlement secure advantage and it's tax free position" into the header to attract the search engiens...

Florida Settlement Planner's "Ingenious" Use of "Solid Waste" Instead of "Knowledge Base"

Posted on February 13, 2008
Jacksonville, FL's Upchurch Financial Services states it "has extensive experience and expertise in the use of 468(b)trusts. It states that a 468(b) trust is created by court order and is used to facilitate the creation of a qualified settlement fund (QSF)"...

Convergence versus "The Quarterback" 2

Posted on February 13, 2008
Yesterday's Insurance Journal reported on a study, commissioned by Fireman's Fund Insurance Co. and conducted by Opinion Research Corporation (ORC), that polled adults with more than $1 million in investible assets. It concluded that the wealthy are primarily concerned about the safety of their family, but they also have significant concerns about the protection of financial assets such as stocks, bonds, real estate and other investments...

Is American General the Same as AIG?

Posted on February 12, 2008
The above question was raised earlier this morning. Answer: American General Corporation, Houston, TX, is one of the many operating companies within American International Group, Inc. (AIG). On August 30, 2001 AIG finalized its acquisition of American General Corporation (American General)...

DealFlow Media on First Name Basis With Judge or Just Disrespectful?

Posted on February 11, 2008
Is DealFlow Media a friend of the judge or just disrespectful? In the Structured Settlements wire report concerning the "Financial Vultures" story, DealFlow was quoted "On two instances during the court hearing, "Netti" ordered Stone Street attorney Christopher L...

Is "Digital Discount Codes" a Hoax?

Posted on February 11, 2008
It has already been established that Structured Settlement Alliance is an alter ego of JG Wentworth, part of its $43 million plan of annoyance cloaked as advertising. A website called Digital Discount Codes is advertising deals and discount codes, freebies, percent off, dollar off coupons and other special sales for Structured Settlement Alliance, including secret codes and free "shipping offers"...

"Convergence" versus the "Quarterback"

Posted on February 11, 2008
"Technological convergence" refers to a trend where some technologies having distinct functionalities evolve to technologies that overlap, i.e. multiple products come together to form one product, with the advantages of each initial component...

"Truffle" in Paradise? Does Hindert have "Ned Head"?

Posted on February 11, 2008
Did S2KM's Hindert wake up with a bad case of "Ned Head" or what ? From 10 podcasts with Ned Arthur on the spin, to none at all, it seems like Patrick Hindert has had it with the abominable quality "phase delay" sound Truffle Media podcasts, or has he?

Factoring Brokerage "Charts" Costs Of The Structured Settlement Factoring Transaction

Posted on February 09, 2008
Andrew Cravenho, owner of factoring brokerage Settlement Quotes has put together an informative post which does a nice job of graphically illustrating the component costs associated with a structured settlement factoring transaction and their effect on the "effective discount rate" for such transactions...

Hindert Lauds Opening of Secondary (Factoring) Market For Executive Life annuities

Posted on February 08, 2008
It seems that author and "factoring promoter" Patrick J. Hindert lauds the the December announcement of a solution to the Executive Life of New York shortfall as the impetus for the "reopening of the secondary (read factoring) market in Executive Life annuities"...

Dark Cloud Revisited in Illinois Courtroom

Posted on February 08, 2008
A legal malpractice trial in Edwardsville, Illnois courtroom has reopened old wounds about the area's most notorious swindler James Gibson "who stole millions from children and widows by making off with their structured settlement funds". In the case plaintiff's attorney Rex Carr is trying to convince the jury to take pity on another victim in the "debacle," his client, Magna Bank ( which is now Regions Bank)...

New Factoring Exchange Announced by SQ

Posted on February 07, 2008
Settlement Quotes, a factoring brokerage out of Rhode Island has just started an online factoring exchange according to a February 5, 2008 press release. A factoring exchange is an auction, where those who have exhausted all other alternatives and have no other alternative but to sell the rights to part of their structured settlement payments for a discounted amount of cash now...

When Feathers Fly

Posted on February 06, 2008
There is a story frequently included in Yom Kippur sermons, about a gossipy woman who felt guilty about her behavior and told her rabbi that she wanted to make amends. The rabbi told her to take a feather pillow to the top of a hill, cut it open, and let the feathers fly...

Why Blow $1,195 or $1,500 on DealFlow Media's "Structured Settlements Report" When You Can Get The Same Or More Accurate Information For Free Elsewhere?

Posted on February 06, 2008
Having now read the sample copy of the First Edition of The Structured Settlements Report, a new publication of DealFlow Media, I am unimpressed. First, the DealFlow Media publication Structured Settlements Report has to be Patrick Hindert's wet dream come true...

Peachtree Settlement Funding...I Still Don't Get it! Do YOU? Are Consumers Shopping?

Posted on February 05, 2008
Peachtree Settlement Funding announced today that it has secured another sizeable credit facility for its Structured Settlements division. According to its press release Peachtree Settlement Funding completed a transaction affording its Structured Settlements division over $200 million in financing for the acquisition of structured settlement payments and annuities including life contingent annuities and settlement payments...

Credit and Debt Blog Reporting of Judge Vogel's Rhode Island "Vultures" Decision Inaccurate

Posted on February 05, 2008
Before anyone starts hurling up their breakfast through their nose, this author has confirmed with the general counsel of a member of the National Association of Settlement Purchasers (NASP) that the Credit and Debt Blog inaccurately reported the amount of structured settlement factoring transactions done on an annual basis as $6 billion in its coverage of the recent Rhode Island "Vulture decision" against Stone Street Capital and its client...

Man of a 1,000 Posts!

Posted on February 05, 2008
It took a little less than 26 months but Structured Settlements 4Real has hit the 1,000 post milestone. This is 1,001. Let's dance baby! When you've written the most, chances are that someone searching is going to hit on one of your posts. It's been fun...

State Insurance Guaranty Funds

Posted on February 05, 2008
The question often comes up in a discussion of structured settlements and other financial products, "what insurance is available or what happens if the annuity issuer goes belly up?" It's a great question but one which many state laws preclude the licensed insurance agent or broker from answering...

"Geeks Gone Wild"...Beware Spamatazoa!

Posted on February 05, 2008
Supposedly it's the case of "geeks gone wild", or at least that's Bob Shapiro of Woodbridge Investments excuse for why his factoring company Woodbridge Investments ("the carnival kings") is spamming all manner of structured settlement industry and factoring industry weblogs...

The Registered Settlement Planner program experience... A View From The Middle

Posted on February 04, 2008
Having now almost completed the first trimester of the Registered Settlement Planner certification program ("RSP") through Texas Tech it seems appropriate to give my thoughts on my experience in the program. Even though I didn't think so, anyone who goes into this program thinking it will be a cakewalk will receive an abrupt awakening, regardless of sophistication and experience...

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