Litigation

Only A Matter of Honor Will Save Potential Public Relations Disaster For Structured Settlement Industry

By John Darer

There are apparently a number dishonorable settlement consultants in our midst affiliated with an NSSTA member firm who are purportedly SELLING structured settlement payee names and have partnered with a "cash now pusher" factoring entity.

Neither these brokers nor the firm in question states anything about factoring activities or partnerships on their corporate web site or in a discussion of services provided.

These brokers (and they know who they are) should know that this author and others ARE on to them. Our comes via people you thought were your friends. Something's brewing. If you are worried about the walls soon closing in on you, you may be very perceptive.

To my brethren in the structured settlement and settlement planning industry.  If you truly care about the industry then I suggest you look inside of your own companies and make sure it is not anyone in your company. 

Furthermore, this is a call to arms to my industry brethren to be on the lookout for these practices. Any proof supplied by a broker or elsewhere that a specific broker or firm in our industry is selling names or providing names of structured settlement payees to factoring companies for compensation or other consideration will be posted by me personally on the Internet for everyone to see.

The Structured Settlement Clean Vendor List was created last year to identify those brokers, consultants and settlement planners who DO NOT: 

1. participate financially or take compensation of any form for referrals to companies that broker, or fund structured settlement factoring transactions;
2. sell, nor intend to sell lists of names of structured settlement annuitants to companies that broker, or fund, structured settlement factoring transactions;
3. provide, nor intend to provide, structured settlement documents to factoring companies.

Individuals on the list have signed a declaration under penalty of perjury to be included on the list. The declaration runs from the date it is executed so that those who with a difference of opinion can reconsider their position.

At the time I indicated that the list of those who did not sign by a certain deadline would be published. While I did not follow through on that, it is now time to revive that notion due to the ineffective policing done by our trade associations.

WHY SHOULD THE INTEGRITY OF OUR INDUSTRY BE WRECKED BY THE SHORT SIGHTED PROFITEERING OF OTHERS COUPLED WITH LACK OF ENFORCEMENT OF A CODE OF ETHICS BY ANY INDUSTRY TRADE ASSOCIATION?

So here is the deal:

Deadline: December 31, 2008.  52 days to say whether your in or out.
  
Read the FAQ on the Structured Settlement Business Declaration

You choose whether or not to sign the declaration.

1. If you choose to sign it, download it by clicking this link, review, sign in the presence of a notary and then fax it to 203-547-6110 or mail it to 43 Harbor Drive, #309 Stamford, CT 06902
2. If you choose not to sign it then do nothing BUT read below.

Structured Settlements 4Real will add names to the EXISTING  Structured Settlement Clean Vendor List as they come in.

NEW!! PLEASE READ VERY CAREFULLY. There will now be a list of individual brokers, planners and consultants known to participate in the placement of structured settlements who were given the opportunity to sign the Structured Settlement Business Practices Declaration but either did not sign or did not respond by December 31, 2008.  The list will include undeclared members of both NSSTA and SSP AND those who are unaffiliated with either trade association.

This will be published the first week in January 2009.

Both lists will sent to each and every state trial lawyer association in the country AND the American Association for Justice in a format suitable for distribution to their members.

Right now only 5% of the structured settlement, settlement planning and litigation recovery management space is on the clean vendor list and there are only two firms that have a posted public policy on this subject, 4structures.com, LLC and The Halpern Group.

Naturally there may be some firms concerned about their individual members signing such declarations. Such firms may send this author a blanket written statement concerning the members of its firm, identifying the names of its members.

This isn't a popularity contest or time for platitudes. Frankly I don't really care whether you are a fan of mine or not,  I will take your declaration if you complete it and send it to me. This is an industry problem that our industry leaders are just not solving, or can't solve.

Time is ticking away. Get your declaration in.

Full post as published by Structured Settlements 4Real on November 08, 2008 (boomark / email).