by Structured Settlement Watchdog®
The secondary market for structured settlement scam of Baltimore lead paint victims is in the news again as the Maryland Attorney General and attorneys representing victims in a class action law suit fight over the optimal remedy. A hearing was scheduled for July 25, 2017.
Background reading How companies make millions off lead-poisoned, poor blacks
Maryland Attorney General
In 2016, the Maryland Attorney Gneral’s office file suit against Chevy Chase-based Access Funding and others, on behalf of the victims, alleging Defendants took advantage of the lead-paint damaged clients from whom it bought structured settlement payment rights. The victims, most of whom were poor inner city African Americans, who suffered brain damage and cognitive harm from lead paint in their homes, were receiving structured settlement payments that were established when lawsuits against former landlords were settled.
Maryland's structured settlement protection law has a mandatory requirement for independent professional advice and the lead paint victims were entitled to such independent advice to help them make the decision. An investigation concluded that lawyer Charles E. Smith the purported provider of "independent professional advice" was affiliated with Access Funding and not independent at all.
Another lawyer associated with Access Funding, Anuj Sud was later arrested and charged with taking bribes while liquor commissioner of Prince George's County (where many of the lead paint cases were filed)
The Class Action Lawyers
A separate class action suit was filed sometime afterward. The Baltimore Sun reports that attorneys for the victims learned during the discovery period in that case, that Access Funding did not have enough money to fully reimburse the victims. So they worked out a deal that, according to the state, is worth about $1.1 million and will result in an average payout of $7,500 for each lead-paint victim. They feel that this is the best these poor folks are going to get.
Case Highlights Complications in Unwinding Structured Settlement Factoring Deals
The attorney general’s office is seeking to restore the structured settlements to the victims who sold them. But the attorneys for the lead-paint victims argue that such an outcome is not possible because the settlements have since been sold by Access Funding to third parties.
At least one such third party is a Florida retiree who invested more than $300,000 in retirement funds in a "secondary market annuity" with intermediary Somerset. In February 2017 the woman was notified by the company that services Access Funding payments that payments were suspended pending the outcome of litigation. Seniors Were Sold "Secondary Market Annuities" Originated In Access Funding Scam of Baltimore City Lead Paint Victims.