by John Darer CLU ChFC MSSC CeFT RSP CLTC
John Griffiths, the lead plaintiff in the Aviva Structured Settlement Class Action, sent two nice notes of thanks today for my assisting him and his attorneys in a suit which was filed in July 2015 following the October 2014 discovery by Mr. Griffiths and I that a Capital Maintenance Agreement that Aviva used to sell a billion dollars of structured settlement annuities was unilaterally terminated in October 2013, without notice to annuitants.
“Hi John,
…..I want to thank you for all the very valuable work you have done which helped me, Mr. Marcus and Mr. Auerbach prosecute this case. The settlement funds will probably be distributed to the approx. 5000 annuitants some time soon. If you haven’t already read it, a good description of the formula used for distributing the settlement funds can be found at:
leagle.com Griffiths v. Aviva London Assignment Corporation, et al
Civil No. 15-13022 – NMG I’ll keep you up to date if there are any other developments. Thanks again from me and on behalf of the 5000 annuitants who benefited from your efforts!
John Griffiths”
“After sending the earlier email I began re-reading many of the articles you’ve written covering the legal action against Aviva/Athene. I also came across a number of your articles that I hadn’t seen before. I am amazed at your incredibly deep and thorough coverage! So well written. One of my concerns when contemplating this case was at first glance, the issues appear to be so complex and described in such convoluted language I was worried the essential nature of the case would become lost. Your articles laid out the facts and arguments in the case in a very straight forward style that enabled even a casual reader to grasp all the elements of this case.
Lawmakers do not have the time or the inclination to educate themselves sufficiently to be able to write adequate regulatory law regarding these big players. It’s a sad comment on our society but that means it is people like you who provide the only line of defense for ordinary citizens in a society that gives less and less importance to their protection.
Thank you John!
John Griffiths”
In my role as Structured Settlement Watchdog I have often devoted a hundred hours of pro bono time annually to:
- help educate people about structured settlements;
- to address gaps in communication to distributors as was the case with the Aviva CMA. Transparency rules over potentially putting consumers and sales force in harm’s way. It was very good to see that as part of the resolution Athene put a CMA in place..
- to timely address misinformation about structured settlements, or cases of “mistaken identity” online and in all forms of media.
- to protect the good name of structured settlements and the people served by structured settlements and settlement planning.