Disability Law

Spencer v. Hartford - 4

By Patrick Hindert

During the recent NASP 2009 Annual Meeting, a panel of primary and secondary market experts identified the civil RICO allegations in the Spencer v. Hartford class action lawsuit as a textbook example of some of the worst structured settlement business practices - regardless of whether such business practices are determined to be legal or illegal under existing laws.

S2KM summarized the plaintiffs' class action RICO allegations and recommended alternative structured settlement business models and practices in a prior post titled "Spencer v. Hartford - 3".

This S2KM post reports recent Spencer v. Hartford case developments.

On October 14, 2009, the United States Second Circuit Court of Appeals denied Hartford's petition which challenged an order by United States District Court Judge Janet C. Hall granting plaintiffs' motion for class certification "because the class certification was within the district court's discretion". The Second Circuit Court of Appeals further denied all of Hartford's additional motions as "moot".

On November 6, 2009, Judge Hall ordered the following schedule of further proceedings in Spencer v. Hartford:

• November 23, 2009 - plaintiffs supplement expert reports related to liability, damage formula;
• November 30, 2009 - plaintiffs submit proposed class notice;
• December 8, 2009 - defendants deadline to object to proposed class notice;
• December 31, 2009 - defendants provide contact information in electronic format for all potential class members;
• January 11, 2010 - defendants complete depositions of plaintiff experts;
• January 29, 2010 - defendants identify experts and provide expert reports;
• February 26, 2010 - plaintiffs complete depositions of defendants' experts;
• March 1, 2010 - deadline for class notice to all potential class members;
• March 19, 2010 - plaintiffs identify rebuttal experts and provide rebuttal reports;
• April 1, 2010 - deadline for dispositive motions (including Daubert motions) if no rebuttal experts disclosed;
• April 9, 2010 - defendants complete deposition of plaintiffs rebuttal experts;
• May 3, 2010 - deadline for class members to opt-out (or appear);
• May 7, 2010 - deadline for dispositive motions (including Daubert motions) if rebuttal experts disclosed;
• 30 days after ruling on summary judgment - joint trial memorandum and motions in limine due;
• September 7 or 8, 2010 - jury selection;
• September 20-October 7, 2010 - jury trial on liability and damage formula.

Full post as published by Beyond Structured Settlements on November 22, 2009 (boomark / email).