by Structured Settlement Watchdog®
Judge Dean Sword, Jr., the Portsmouth VA judge who approved 8 of 11 of Terrence Taylor's transfers in two years, had an epic day on the bench on January 7, 2014. Judge Sword was scheduled to hear 15 structured settlement transfer petitions in less than 15 minutes, according to this schedule Download 2014-01-07 Portsmouth Circuit Court Dean Sword Jr. Stephen Heretick Transfer Petitions. [See in re structured settlements].
I have a couple of questions:
- Just how was it humanly possible for Judge Sword to adequately perform his duties under the Virginia Structured Settlement Protection Act under those time constraints?
- How is it possible, at less than one minute per case, for ANY judge to determine that the best interest standard was complied with in accordance with state and federal law?
All of the transfer petitions were submitted by Portsmouth councilman Stephen E. Heretick.
With respect to structured settlement transfers, Sword wrote on March 9, 2011 in Civil Proceeding CL11-240 that "the court has been convinced that the Virginia statutes provide a very friendly approach to the approval of these matters" [Source: NSSTA website, emphasis added]
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