by John Darer CLU ChFC CSSC RSP
We're a mere month away from "The Ides of March" and the ELNY Liquidation hearing that takes place at the Nassau County, New York Supreme courthouse in Mineola, New York on March 15, 2012. The structured settlement watchdog believes that it's important to look at the industry's warts rather than keep 'em buried. One way to do that is through the voices of the structured settlement annuitants potentially affected.
Bill, a West Virginia resident who has been receiving structured settlement payments from ELNY, wrote this to me at lunch time today:
"One question that I wonder about? Do the lawyers, insurance writers and insurance industry realize the suffering we have already been through by our injuries & now with the loss (reduction) of our income, will they still be able to sleep at night as we are forced into bankruptcy and made to suffer extreme hardships because of their greed? When I look at the amounts of loss by my peer group, the higher the amount of loss, I know the greater the suffering they have endured and will endure into the future."
Clearly some Executive Life of New York structured settlement annuitants are going through an emotional and financial holocaust. It's a difficult subject for some in my industry to broach, but we must make this "journey" to spread the enduring message "Never Again!"
This is not an anti structured settlement message. Far from it.
The lessons learned by regulators in New York and other states have led to reforms. In the early 1980s, when bad decisions by regulators were made, that allowed products to be sold that projected values based on the increasing amount of "flotsam and jetsam" in New York admitted insurer's portfolios, there was no massive Internet. There was no social media. Then some might have been more inclined to smoke hash when today they might be inclined to use some "#hash tags". Today's commentators would be all over ELNY (and those who promoted it) like stink on poop, with unrelenting questions and by any means of communication possible.
It's one of the reasons why I believe we need to see regulation of the tertiary market for structured settlement payment rights. Such payment rights if sold to investors, including by some to injury victims, may not have the statutory protections afforded those who receive structured settlement payments as damages or compensation. Despite the fact that such vehicles have been labeled on the Internet as annuities, they ARE NOT annuities.
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