The United States Department of Justice Civil Division (USDOJ) released its August 2007 Update to the Calendar Year list of Annuity Brokers on August 2, 2007. According to the accompanying memorandum from Phyllis Piles, FTCA Staff*, the list includes annuity brokers "who meet minimum qualifications for providing annuity brokerage services in connection with structured settlements entered by the United States" (see 28 C.F.R. Sec. 50.24).
Notably absent from this list are a number of brokers who Structured Settlements 4Real revealed to have simultaneously marketed as "plaintiff only" or "plaintiff exclusive" while appearing on the April 27, 2006 list (each having signed a declaration, under penalty of perjury, that they had provided substantial services to or on behalf of defendants over the preceding 3 year period). Not sure if the removal of their names gets them off the hook for the past act(s) but at least there is some recognition of the problem and a step has been made in the right direction.
Care shold be taken by heads of brokerage firms that market themselves as "plaintiff exclusive" that just one person on the list could render a good case against the firm for false advertising.
It is critical to the integrity of the structured settlement industry that brokers respect the law even if they don’t always agree with it.
FTCA=Federal Tort Claims Act
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