Litigation

The "structured settlement illiterati" at Deal Flow Media served up more digital diarrhea with a story about pre-settlement funding on the company's online Structured Settlements Wire. It  SHOULD be obvious to readers that Pre-Settlement Funding HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH structured settlements.

Pre-Settlement Funding is a form of cash advance available to tort victims with choking bills, whose cases are still pending, where specialty finance companies (like Law Cash, Magnolia Funding  provide non recourse funding to tort victims. If the plaintiffs win or settle their case the finance company has a lien on the proceeds. Non recourse essentially means that if you lose your case you owe the finance company nothing. Due to the risk involved for the finance company a large effective rate of interest (as high as 2.5% per month) is charged. Thus modest amounts advanced can grow to substantial amounts if there is a long period of time between the advance and the time the case is resolved. It's a great business for those in it, serves a need...BUT PRE-SETTLEMENT HAS NOTHING WHATSOEVER TO DO WITH STRUCTURED SETTLEMENTS.

In my opinion the DealFlow Media entry into the structured settlement media scene has been a sputtering disaster. As evidenced by the material on hand since February 2008, the research is abysmal, the number of stories with bad information outnumbers the good, and the jury is still out over the company's motivation. A few gullible structured settlement industry insiders were even initially sucked in by these folks.

I don't know who is writing the "Structured Settlements Wire" but I know who the editor is. Brett Goetschius (who I have "affectionately"  dubbed "Brett Goat Cheese") ought to decide if he wishes his "publication to be seen as a rag for the "structured settlement illiterati"  or become an erudite part of the literati.