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August 13, 2015

Was Anyone Tipping "The Scales" on Secondary Market in Tort Claims

by Structured Settlement Watchdog®

Was the singular work of Professor Adam Scales about structured settlement factoring, "cheerleaded" by Patrick Hindert for the best part of a decade,  rooted by outside influences "tipping the Scales"  as it were?  There is evidence to suggest the possibility if one believes a board member of the structured settlement buyer's trade association.

Tipping the scales
Tipping the Scales?

In this excerpt from his LinkedIn profile, Andrew Savysky, an officer of the National Association of Settlement Purchasers (NASP) and executive officer of Structured Asset Funding/123 Lump Sum, says :

"Through NASP, Andrew has presented on industry topics at NASP conferences and has hosted a round table discussion among industry counsel that led to the publication of Professor Adam Scales’ Wisconsin Law Review article, “Against Settlement Factoring?: The Market in Tort Claims Has Arrived”.   Andrew Savysky LinkedIn profile retrieved August 13, 2015  [emphasis added]

Here's how Patrick Hindert, chief structured settlement industry "geyser" for Professor Adam Scales,  gushed about the noble then associate professor in 2009:

"Adam Scales - When Professor Adam Scales first questioned the myth of squandering injury victims in his remarkable 2002 University of Wisconsin Law Review article titled: "Against Settlement Factoring? The Market in Tort Claims has Arrived", he was reviled by leaders of the primary structured settlement market. Seven years following the publication of Professor Scales' article, structured settlement and settlement planning leaders continue to quote false dissipation statistics and mis-characterize existing dissipation studies to promote a negative and false psychological and financial profile of injury victims".

Scales' "one hit wonder" was cited over and over by then NYU law student Jeremy Babener, then Indiana law student Laura Koenig (in her disastrous law Indiana law school school paper, which I reviewed in 2007) and more recently, another law student from Hofstra University in New York.

Old-faithful

Old Faithful, "Old Yeller" or "Old Jello"

The publication of Scales' paper coincided with the passage of the Victims of Terrorism Tax Relief Act (VTTRA), which became effective in January 2002. The structured settlement relevant portion of the VTTRA was intended to establish rules to help protect structured settlement annuitants from the pillaging of their structured settlements by opportunistic profiteers by imposing an excise tax of 40% if certain conditions were not complied with.

 

 

Posted at 03:56 PM in National Association of Settlement Purchasers (NASP), Secondary Market "Structured Annuities", Structured Settlement Factoring, Structured Settlement Factoring News, Structured Settlement Industry News, Structured Settlement Transfers, Structured Settlement Watchdog® |

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Guide to Structured Settlements 2023

  • What is a Structured Settlement? What You Need to Know
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    How structured settlements work, including 4structures.com LLC's super helpful structured settlement flow chart/diagram showing how structured settlements fit in on the spectrum of settlement planning solutions.
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  • Treasury Funded Structured Settlements
    Treasury Funded Structured Settlements are a settlement option for the most conservative using the OTHER permissible qualified funding asset under IRC 130(d), United States Treasury Bonds in addition to, or instead of, structured settlement annuities. Treasury Funded Structured Settlements can also be used to fund installment sales, also known as structured sales and other non qualified structured settlements.
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    Ways You Can Structure Your Settlement Payments. With a structured settlement you can have more than one type of payment in a single contract. Different types of structured settlement payments can be customized and combined to meet your needs on a stand-alone basis, or in conjunction with other financial products. Diversify your structured settlement, if you wish, by funding with more than one annuity issuer, with treasury funded structured settlements, index linked structured settlement payments and market based structured .
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    Structured attorney fees is a financial strategy that offers a unique way to defer taxes for lawyers and law firms. Lawyers CAN structure their legal fees even if the plaintiff doesn't structure their settlement. There are multiple ways to structure your attorney fees, such as the an index linked structured settlement where payments are adjusted based on upside changes in the S&P 500 with no downside and a cap of 5%. Trial Lawyers may also use a special deferred pay/deferred compensation arrangement, if market based returns returns are desired with no cap. Plan NOW for year end! Put structured attorney fee expert John Darer® on your settlement planning team.
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  • Structured Settlement Quote Lock-Ins | What You Need To Know
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  • What Are Structured Settlement Annuities?
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  • History of Structured Settlements
    Tracing the roots of structured settlements history from 1918, when Congress exempted damages for personal injury or sickness from income tax, to the establishment of structured settlements as a core personal injury settlement planning tool to the present day.
  • What Are Market Based Structured Settlements?
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Qualified Settlement Funds

  • What is a Qualified Settlement Fund?
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  • Firmwide Qualified Settlement Funds Debunked
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