If you are the "exclusive broker" it's you and nobody else, right?. If you have an exclusive relationship it means you date your partner "exclusively", right? So what does "plaintiff exclusive" structured settlement firm or settlement planning firm mean?
If you follow the logic it means that you hold yourself out to only work with plaintiffs to the exclusion of all others, right? If so, is it acceptable to have a substantial "defense mistress" on the side?
Forge Consulting, LLC is about to be feted as one of the Founding Members of the NY State Trial Lawyer Association (NYSTLA) Partnership For Justice at a gala on January 25, 2007. Forge has advertised that it is "NYSTLA's only "Plaintiff Exclusive Structured Settlement Firm" in advertising and solicitation to NYSTLA members. An example of this can be found at the following link Download forgeconsultingad_plaintiff_exclusive.pdf and in a glossy brochure handed out at the 2006 ATLA Annual Meeting.
John T. Bair is President of Buffalo, New York based Forge Consulting, LLC. So the question I ask is how can John Bair, a licensed insurance agent, as President of a firm that advertises as part of its solicitation of insurance business that it is "Plaintiff Exclusive", make an annual Declaration, in good faith, to the United States Department of Justice that in each of the last 3 years he has provided substantial structured annuity brokerage services to or on behalf of defendants or their counsel?
The Free Dictionary defines "substantial" as "considerable in importance, value, degree, amount, or extent". Moving right along…
Pursuant to 28 CFR 50.24 you must make the following Declaration to be on the DOJ list of structured settlement brokers who meet the minimum standard to be consulted on behalf of the United States. The Declaration is be made under penalty of perjury pursuant to 28 USC 1746.
This is not an indictment of the work that John T. Bair may do for his clients, or his largesse with respect to charity or to his fundraising capacity for the campaigns of various political candidates. This is not a debate on the merits of being a "plaintiff-exclusive" broker or whether one should work with one. This is not the matter of whether or not John T. Bair has actually received any case assignments from the Assistant United States Attorney General for the Western District of New York, or elsewhere, for any reason. This is not a matter of whether I personally like John T. Bair or not. It's a matter of questioning a material conflict and getting to the truth, as a matter of public interest.
Since the "plaintiff exclusive" advertising statement and the DOJ Declaration are mutually exclusive, it seems to me that John T. Bair cannot logically advertise and solicit, representing to hundreds or thousands of trial lawyers in New York State, Massachusetts, or to the members of the American Association For Justice (AAJ)/ American Trial Lawyers Association (ATLA) that Forge, ergo "he", is "plaintiff exclusive" while at the same time signing the Declaration, in good faith, which he would have to do to get on the DOJ List. Neither Bair nor Forge can have it both ways… or can they?
Now the irony…
Excerpts from a Forge Consulting brochure handed out at last summer's ATLA meeting:
"What does plaintiff-exclusive mean to you?"
"Many brokers claim to be plaintiff brokers, yet their company has contracts with casualty insurers"
Testimonial posted on Forge Consulting website:
" They work only with plaintiff attorneys" excerpt of quote (about Forge) and attributed by Forge to the attorneys of Hill-Boren law firm
Jackson, Tennessee
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