Litigation

Colonial Settlement Partners' "Think BIg Shyte"

By John Darer

Like the other structured settlement factoring companies that contribute to financial illiteracy Colonial Settlement Partners, LP hires a Search Engine Optimization firm (in this case Think Big Sites) which creates a blog that links back to the Colonial Settlement Partner site. According to Whois records the Sell Structured Settlements Blog is registered to Marc Arner,a principal of Think Big Sites. 

It starts out OK "There may be some trepidation on behalf of the seller as they make an effort to understand the role of the buyer in the transaction and even wonder what separates a legitimate and reputable buyer of structured settlement annuity payments from one that is best avoided".

BUT then..."First and foremost, structured settlements are nothing more than financial arrangements. Those who are given money as a part of a personal injury legal proceeding may not be given the entire sum of money at once. Instead, the court may decide to award the money through a structured settlement. This means the money owed to the claimant in the case is deposited into an annuity and then equal payments are made to the claimant from the annuity on a scheduled basis".

Select Comments

• A structured settlement is more than just a financial arrangement and perhaps there's something that would be better suited for a first and foremost qualifier. 

• One is not simply given money as part of a legal proceeding. The plaintiff or claimant is paid money in consideration for a negotiated settlement in exchange for a release, OR the plaintiff is awarded money (damages) by a Court after trial.

• Courts may decide or approve the form of payment when a Court Order is required such as an infant case, or where probate approval is required.

• Payments from an annuity are not necessarily in equal payments. For example under a CPLR 50B judgment in New York, payments may be in multiple payment streams of unequal amounts. Furthermore, such payments must be increased at a statutory rate of 4%.

Full post as published by Structured Settlements 4Real on January 28, 2009 (boomark / email).