by Structured Settlement Watchdog®
Bad day for Rockville Maryland lawyer Charles E Smith and CES Law Group, LLC as he failed to get his structured settlement IPA legal malpractice lawsuit dismissed.
Legal Malpractice Suit Against Charles E. Smith of CES Law Group in Derwood MD
- The legal malpractice suit against Charles E. Smith and his law firm alleged that Smith advised an illiterate, intellectually disabled young woman
- On the sale of a structured settlement (designed to protect her throughout her lifetime) for a small and severely discounted amount of cash
- without meeting her or providing counsel on the potential consequences of selling the structured settlement payments.
According to the Washington Post, more than 50 of Smith’s engagements have arrived from annuitants selling structured settlement payments to Access Funding, the beleaguered Chevy Chase company that the Washington Post accused of targeting and exploiting lead poisoned poor blacks from Baltimore city.
Independent professional advice is required under the Maryland Structured Settlement Protection Act. The allegations against Smith suggest that there needs to be a better definition of what independent professional advice is.