by Structured Settlement Watchdog®
Instead of purchasing a business insurance policy David Springer thought he could rely on his homeowner's policy to pay his defense costs in the lawsuit filed against him by JG Wentworth over the sucks and scam sites attacking JG Wentworth that Springer allegedly created. His insurer denied coverage under the "business pursuits" exclusion and Springer filed suit.
A Maryland appeals court recently remanded to the Circuit Court to explore the continuity theory espoused by Springer's counsel.
Most homeowners insurance policies exclude coverage for liability relating to "business pursuits." Although the exact formulation varies by state, the courts generally define a "business pursuit" as a continual or recurrent activity carried out for financial gain. In most states, courts give a broad interpretation to "business pursuits," drawing in almost any activity that results in financial gain. In these states, if you devote a non-trivial amount of time to your online publishing activities and make any money from them -- for example, through advertisements or a tip jar -- then you probably are carrying on a "business pursuit," and your coverage could be lost. Conversely, if you don't make any money from your online publishing activities (or more precisely, if financial gain is not your motivation), then you probably are not engaging in a "business pursuit," and you won't lose coverage under your homeowners insurance. [Source: Digital Media Law project]
In other states, the courts have interpreted "business pursuits" in a narrower fashion. There, you might be able to argue that your online publishing activities are not business pursuits so long as they are not your primary occupation or making a profit is not your primary motive. In these states, going commercial does not necessarily carry the same risk of losing coverage under your homeowners insurance. [Ibid.]
A. Following is an excerpt of an email from Andrew Cravenho to Roger Proctor and David Springer which clearly shows that the two Canadians had a business relationship on March 6, 2011. The email was provided to me by an informant with knowledge of the relationship. Upon information and belief David Springer hid his involvement in SSQ by using the alias James Spelling. [David Springer, using the alias James Spelling was the Sales Manager for Settlement Quotes LLC at the time it owned structuredsettlement-quotes(dot)com and according to our sources was paid over $100,000 between 2010 and 2011. When the leads came in for SSQ, David Springer would talk to them using his James Spelling facade David Springer testified on June 28, 2013 that he created the name James Spelling and that James Spelling was David Springer Download James Spelling at Settle...etails _ LeadFerret Download Discount rate calculator settlement quotes James Spelling. There is evidence, controverting his June 28, 2013 testimony, that shows that David Springer operated under the alias possibly as far back as 2008]
"---Original Message-----
From: Andrew Cravenho [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Sunday, March 06, 2011 6:58 PM
To: Roger Proctor
Cc: David Springer
Subject: Expenses- January and February 2011
February.
Paypal- 3986
Odesk- 2127
Intellilinks- 462
January
Paypal- 7658
Odesk- 3142
Intellilinks- 362
Adwords- 934
Total- 18671"
Comments
Odesk is billed as the world's online workplace and it is where some companies choose to seek thehelp of freelance workers to do their work related to websites, search engine optimization, blogging, writing, link building, programming and more. David Springer posted a work order on Odesk with respect to webuypayments.net on or about June 18, 2011
http://structuredsettlements.typepad.com/files/immediate-and-ongoing-part-time-cont.pdf
The timeline coincides beautifully with the alleged webuypayment.net redirect scheme.
B. On May 28, 2011 David Springer acquired webuypayments.net through GoDaddy [ Source: Woodbridge v Springer and Sovereign Funding Document 41-4 October 17,2012 pgs 2-4]. Within about a month the parastic redirection scheme to webuypayments.net began. The domain was at the center of the Woodbridge lawsuit against David Springer and Sovereign Funding Group. Upon information and belief there is also discoverable evidence connecting Springer to the registration of another domain used in a similar parasitic redirect scheme that began in February 2012.
It also coincides with the June 2011 establishment of a Blogger account for James Goldstein, one of the aliases with outrageous fake academic credentials from Yale Law School that David Springer admitted to creating in his June 28, 2013 deposition (that was later used to "try to remove Springer from the Internet"). Download James Goldstein Blogger June 2011.
If David Springer was no longer in business as his attorneys argued, in an attempt to overcome the "business pursuits" exclusion in Springer v Erie Insurance Exchange, then why would the work order say. among other things:
- Initially we want our main site sovereignfunding.com cleared up?
- Build a 5 page website webuypayments.net
- We have many other jobs that we can discuss once these jobs are completed Emphasis added
The odesk work order shows the Employer's work history and feedback going back to June 18, 2011 and the type of work paid for.
Does that sound like a company that is not in business or an individual not engaging in business pursuits?
AND THERE'S MORE...
C, Here's another email supplied by the same informant, from Andrew Cravenho addressed to David(Springer)/ Roger(Proctor) from 2009.
"David/ Roger,
I have enclosed a basic payment schedule of the last 5 months. I made it pretty basic because it was difficult to explain each site. I'll try to do it briefly here instead of on the excel sheet.
Each site has a base cost for links (outsourced to 1 link partner to do the link building). Each of these costs differ for each individual site (e.g. SFG was $410 per month for 40 relevant links, last month it was increased to $500 per month with the addition of other social bookmarking submissions). Any increase in the cost per month would be due to paid blog posts, article submissions or do follow social bookmarking.
The excel spreadsheet is off a bit because SSQ incurs more costs per month than the other 2 sites. The bulk of the cost is from 3 main sources linkworth.com (http://www.capital-chronicle.com/, http://www.annuityiq.com/, and http://www.fatpitchfinancials.com/), paid blog posts through v7n.com ($40 per post) and my other static links ($30 per link). I sometimes send out a press release which makes me go over budget.
Please let me know if you have any questions.
Best
Andrew Cravenho
Settlement Quotes, LLC
www.structuredsettlement-quotes.com
International Telephone (860) 454-4179
Toll Free Telephone (888) 665-1257
Fax (888) 665-1257"
D. With respect to the email that Cravenho sent, our informant also provided the following Download AJohna, which shows charges to Cravenho's VISA card for the so-called "intellilinks" and paid links from November 28, 2010 through February 28, 2012. That's alot of continuity, "don't cha" think?
E. A March 5, 2012 a screen shot of David Springer's Microsoft Outlook SMFG Outlook [ SMFG = Sovereign Mortgage and Funding Group] provided by our informant, shows that David Springer was involved with the SSQ website and a beneficiary of its leads, along with Roger Proctor and Boris Drubetsky. Upon information and belief, a buyout of Andrew Cravenho's interest in SSQ occurred in November 2011, but he provided some post sale services as part of the deal.
F. David Springer testified on June 28,2013 that he used the email address [email protected]
Indeed he used it to communicate with me on July 19, 2011 and September 30, 2011 and to communicate with his attorney Michael Cryan about the Woodbridge lawsuit in November 2012 according to a copy of that communication provided to me by a third party in January 2013
On September 30, 2011, David Springer sent me an email using [email protected], to an email address that I never use saying " here's a possible lead that came in yesterday". What online receptacle generated that lead and what leads were generated by the same receptacle? Is operating a commercial website and/or participating in it, not a business purpose for profit?
G. The Better Business Bureau of Greater Maryland will have record of payments of the annual fee for the BBB and records of any changes. In his June 28, 2013 deposition, David Springer testified that he had control the BBB account and the changes which he made online. He also admitted to submitting false information to the Better Business Bureau. At one point there wasn't a real person listed as a contact on the SFG record, until the ruse was exposed. If David Springer/ Sovereign Funding wasn't in business why was it necessary to spend $350 or so per year and maintain the BBB listing?
H. As of May 28, 2012 David Springer's Google Plus says he works for Sovereign Funding Group Download David Springer - Google+
I. On April 19, 2012 David Springer was in a Google product forum lamenting the Google page rank of sovereignfunding.com after it went from a PR of 5 to a 0. In the email Springer discusses an example of key words that "are important" such as " sell structured settlement, buy structured settlement, cash for structured settlement, sellannuity,buy annuity, cash for annuity and so on" Download David Springer-Significant ranking and traffic, PR was 5 and it went to 0 .
- Why would it matter to David Springer if he wasn't in business, or pursuing it for a profit?
- Why would those specific key words matter to someone who was not "engaged in business pursuits" for a profit motive?
- Why would he waste his time?
Furthermore aren't the keywords that David Springer is moaning about to Google in the forum, keywords that he has in common with his competitors JG Wentworth and Woodbridge Structured Funding?
J. From what I understand from the Springer v Erie Insurance Exchange oral arguments, Springer contends that he wasnt in business from 2009 and is holding this gap (2009-2011) out as the lynchpin to the continuity argument. David Springer admitted in his June 28,2013 depositon to altering an article that he wrote about the Scott Rothstein ponzi scheme that was published November 19, 2009, replacing his name with the fictitious James Goldstein. [ see my April 15, 2013 blog post Why is Sovereign Funding Group Papering Over David Springer?] My contemporaneous observation was that the article was altered in October 2012, after it was known that Erie Insurance Group was denying his defense.
Springer also admitted in his June 28, 2013 deposition to creating the LinkedIn profile for the fictional CEO of Sovereign Funding Group James Goldstein. In my April 2, 2013 blog post Cross-Linked..In Sovereign Funding Group | A Tale of Two Presidents, I pointed out that the James Goldstein position as President with Sovereign Funding Group stems back to 2008, while Springer is listed as President from 2002-2011. Upon information and belief the creation of the Linkedin profile for James Goldstein came after the denial of a defense by Erie Insurance Exchange. It certainly raises some interesting questions.
K. David Springer discussed the JG Wentworth lawsuit against Springer and Sovereign Funding Group with people that worked with him on marketing, link building and search engine optimization such as Kathryn Sias and Nicholas John Jackson. It seems evident from the output. For example, In late 2011 copies of the JG Wentworth complaint and Springer's and Sovereign's response appeared on Scribd.com, one on the personal docstoc account of Sias.
In this January 16, 2012 video at 0:23, spokesperson Tricia Luttman Cooper emphatically states "David Springer allows us to do these videos". One of the videos falsely promotes David Springer as a lawyer using "old bitty grandma" a character that can be found on Fiverr. On David Springer's Blogger profile, established July 2011, one month after James Goldstein's, he includes a link to Old Bitty Grandma and reveals David Springer's affinity for the actress. Download David Springer Blogger Profile since July 2011. Furthermore, David Springer's Blogger profile states David Springer's interests as "
Res Ipsa loquitur as they say in Latin.
Then there's this January 25, 2012 Sovereign Funding marketing video about the JG Wentworth lawsuit produced by Springer's then marketing team.
I'm done for today.
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