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April 28, 2021

Annuity.Org Continues to Be a Fountain of Unreliability About Structured Settlements

by Structured Settlement Watchdog

Part of my aspirational mission as Structured Settlement Watchdog has been and continues to be to help consumers have the clearest path to accurate information about structured settlements. No doubt my readers have seen a number of posts over the years critical of Annuty.org. The criticism is for good reason because their quality of work is consistently poorly researched in my opinion (as I have clearly documented in each critical post).  That may not matter to CBC Settlement Funding, its long time ultimate beneficiary, but it matters to me, and I believe it matters to lawyers, consumers and others evaluating structured settlements. Why waste a consumer's time?  

In February 2016, I published a post " Annuity.org is Not a Dependable Source of Information About Structured Settlements". In that post I accused Annuity.org of poorly disguised plagiarism of a chart that I personally created in 2008, well before Annuity.org started shilling for CBC Settlement Funding and others. As usual, I provided a very detailed critique of why what Annuity.org posted and why/what was inaccurate. The post speaks for itself. Instead of learning from that critique, Annuity.org filed a DMCA notice* claiming copyright infringement for a chart they essentially plagiarized from me, that you can see differs from mine by the "ancient looking" clip art they used.  The text and other elements of the chart were substantially identical to the one I produced and displayed in the post on our site.

Source:  Lumen.org The Lumen database collects and analyzes legal complaints and requests for removal of online materials, helping Internet users to know their rights and understand the law. These data enable people to study the prevalence of legal threats and let Internet users see the source of content removals. 

What Does Fair Use Mean?

According to the American Bar Association  "Fair use is a doctrine that is used to encourage criticism and commentary of copyrighted works. It is based on the concept that one should be free to use portions of copyrighted materials without asking permission from the copyright owner".   

In one notable case, which arose from Stephanie Lenz posting a 29 second video on YouTube of her toddler dancing to Prince’s “Let’s Go Crazy”. Universal, which holds the rights to the Prince catalog, filed a DMCA take down notice with YouTube claiming Lenz's video infringed on their copyright.  Lenz filed a counter notice. The Ninth Circuit held that copyright owners must consider “fair use” issues before a right-holder files a DMCA take-down notice with an online service provider.

I really wish it were not necessary to critique work published by Annuity.org, but after  more than 4 years they evidently just don't care about the mediocrity on show.

All they seem to care about is SEO and up to 4 solicitations to readers to sell their structured settlement payments, It's not like accurate information is not available from which to create works which dispense accurate information. The purported fact checking and journalistic standards they espouse and purport to uphold, are easily impeachable by knowledgeable structured settlement experts, in my opinion. 

Here are a couple of examples of ongoing slurry displayed in an April 20, 2021 post about structured settlements for "der kinder" that was purportedly "updated"

  • "When courts decide or plaintiffs and defendants settle large cases that involve children, the financial result takes into account the child’s long-term stability". 
  • "Today, structured settlement annuities make up the overwhelming majority of lawsuit awards"  No it doesn't.
  • "The yield typically ranges between 3 – 10 percent"  No it doesn't
  • "There are several agencies that may receive and protect the settlement payments on the minor’s behalf"  No explanation provided. Random nonsense
  • "When designing the structured settlement, the court carefully evaluates every possible recipient to select the one that will protect the child’s best interest until they reach age 18"

The Annuity.org ruse has been up for a long time.  Saying something is fact checked and displaying the purported fact checker and his or her credentials is just not believable as my documented critiques provided. 

Again, when it comes to structured settlements, theirs is a brand that generates leads for a factoring company or companies that pay pennies on the dollar.  The dead give away is the 3-4 calls to action about selling your payments.  Anybody who visits Annuity.org can see that for themselves

 

 

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Posted at 03:54 PM in Annuity.org | Sweeping Up Poor Annuity.org Research, 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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    Which life insurance companies issue structured settlement annuities going into 2023? A list of current structured annuity issuers, the location of their home offices and their financial ratings from A.M. Best, Moodys, Fitch, Standard & Poors and/or other Tier1 NAIC ratings, with links to their websites and other useful information.
  • 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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  • Structured Settlement Payments | Types of Structured Settlements
    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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    Receiving structured settlement payments from your own structured settlement or inherited structured settlement? You'll like this huge time saver. Click the title for a link to a comprehensive list of customer service telephone numbers that includes both current AND former structured settlement annuity issuers and reinsurers. If you have simple bank or beneficiary changes, or if the insurance company that issued the structured annuity has merged, sold or spun off its block of structured annuity business (e.g. Aviva, Allstate, Transamerica, AEGON, GE Capital, Liberty, CNA, Confederation Life) or changed its name and you're trying to track them down, here you go! The list is regularly updated. Last updated September 14, 2023
  • Structured Settlement Quote Lock-Ins | What You Need To Know
    What does a Structured Settlement Lock-In Mean? How do plaintiffs, defendants and insurers benefit from a structured settlement quote lock in when finalizing a settlement? How does the defendant/insurer/court benefit from using a structured settlement lock-in? Where to be careful when using structured settlement lock ins.
  • What Are Structured Settlement Annuities?
    Structured settlement annuities are annuities that can provide one or more customized annuity payment streams in a single contract. Read about structured settlement annuities here.
  • 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?
    Market based structured settlements are an alternative or supplementary structured settlement solution for the plaintiff, attorney or law firm that: 1. Can afford to take some market risk 2. Have discretionary settlement dollars. Claimants and attorneys alike may find that market-based structured settlements provide the opportunity to receive tax-free income, or tax-deferred income, while enjoying growth potential.
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Qualified Settlement Funds

  • What is a Qualified Settlement Fund?
    Qualified Settlement Funds | What You Need to Know
  • Firmwide Qualified Settlement Funds Debunked
    Firmwide qualified settlement funds have been heavily promoted to trial lawyers, but have been debunked in a detailed analysis in a July 2022 legal opinion a tax partner at the law firm of Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath, LLP. Trial lawyers and firms who have established Firmwide QSFs or coinsidering establishing a Firmwide QSF should read the analysis as part of their evaluation.

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