Litigation

"Cash Now Pusher" Rides To Rescue "Damsel" Hindert's Distress

By John Darer

Patrick Hindert's "friends" are coming to his defense and not surprisingly the source of support is from the factoring industry. Cash Now Pusher Stone Street Capital's Patricia Laborde states that "while he never actually uses the term, it seems that Hindert is suggesting that some in the primary market?s dislike for anything that legitimizes factoring is simply ?groupthink?.

Ms. Laborde should know that factoring is legal. Even someone as outspoken as this author about factoring business practices would attest to that. What appears to be of questionnable legality is the cash now pushing that goes on in the industry. There is more than sufficient written and spoken evidence to suggest that "cash now" is a fraud. We know that Stone Street Capital says it gives cash advances but the outright B.S. of "all your money now" should not have to be tolerated.

During the process of her Janis and Mann inspired "on line psych lesson" Ms. Laborde states "Predictably, Hindert is being vilified by some in the primary market for this series (see marker number 5).   Hindert?s ?crime? is his belief that fewer attorneys are recommending structured settlements to their clients and that there needs to be fundamental change in the primary market to ensure that it remains strong in the future". 

There is no doubt that the structured settlement industry must adapt to the dynamic market environment. Hindert is villified because for years he has relentlessly promoted factoring as if it were the frickin' Ginsu knife (you know "it slices, it dices..."). Factoring DOES NOT make the structured settlement product stronger. It merely offers an option that is not needed if a plaintiff's recovery goes into a 130X Trust, or a United States Treasury Bond Structured Settlement Trust with an adequately seeded Pour Over Trust, or an annuity structured settlement constructed with an adequately seeded Pour Over Trust.

Plaintiff attorneys recoil at the notion that their client's recovery can be factored and despite purported statistics that only 5% of structures are factored, competing financial products EASILY focus on this point. An individual who has a structure created for him and then within months avails himself of the "Hindert promoted liquidity feature" right away is losing money. Big money! I believe it was a Rhode Island Judge Netti Vogel who referred to factoring companies as "vultures" despite Michael Goodman and JG Wentworth's cozying up and contributing to the National Association of Women Judges. I've never met Judge Vogel but I understand she's an indpendent thinker.

I defend Patrick Hindert's right to free speech despite his pedantic delusions that seem ill fitting to either the mission statements of the  Society of Settlement Planners or the National Structured Settlements Trade Association.

I also have the right to call Hindert a coward, on the basis that he challenging me to a debate in May 2008 on his "factoring route one to growth thesis" and then chickened out when I accepted.  Further on the subject of villification, in April  2007 Hindert villified me because of my relentless pursuit of the reform of factoring and structured settlement industry business practices (the latter of which included serial examples of perjury and/or false advertising).

As to alternatives to HIndert's thesis, this author is aware of others at work with ideas, working towards creating new products and improvements. They just may not wish to go public with them at this time.

Full post as published by Structured Settlements 4Real on February 03, 2009 (boomark / email).