Litigation

NSSTA Response to Structured Settlement Transparency Initiative

By John Darer

Mark Wahlstrom does a nice write up on the structured settlement transparency initiative over on The Settlement Channel.

Mark states that what he really believes is "the focus of this initiative is this author's belief that a lot of settlement professionals talk out of both sides of their mouths on this issue, declaring their animus toward factoring, but willfully accepting undisclosed compensation at the expense of annuitants when no one is looking".

Mark and I agree with "the principal that any broker who refers a client to a factoring firm, and who then accepts compensation for that referral, owes a duty to that client to inform them that they are being compensated and to further disclose how that compensation impacts their pricing on the factoring transaction".

Mark does not address two points which are equally important and have been part of the Declaration Concerning Business Practices on Structured Settlement Factoring since the beginning Download StructuredSettlementDeclarationonFactoringPractice :

1. The possibility that certain NSSTA members are selling structured settlement payee names and protected information to factoring companies or brokers.
2. The unilateral providing of confidential settlement documents by settlement professionals to factoring companies

Furthermore be aware, if you are not already, that the lists and an educational white paper ARE going to be distributed to every state trial lawyer association in the United States and the American Association for Justice in early 2009 for further distribution to their members, if THEY so choose. The lists will also be maintained on Structured Settlements 4Real.

Mark states "I believe John's initiative is a worthy voluntary endeavor to bring some level of accountability to the profession that NSSTA simply can't provide. I personally will fall into the "other" category as I am not closing the door to compensation from factoring transactions, but as stated above believe disclosure and court supervision is the best possible answer to these abuses. I think it is up to each professional member to decide if they want to participate in this initiative, but whether or not they do, they have an obligation to have a clearly stated policy when dealing with factoring issues with their clients".

Here is my company's published statement, where's yours?

Full post as published by Structured Settlements 4Real on December 27, 2008 (boomark / email).