Structured settlements expert John Darer reviews the latest structured settlements and settlement planning information and news, and provides expert opinion and highly regarded commentary. that is spicy, Informative, irreverent and effective for over 20 years.
The STRUCTURED SETTLEMENTS 4REAL® Blog is a highly regarded source for structured settlement news, information, and commentary, led by structured settlement and settlement planning subect mater expert John Darer CLU ChFC MSSC CeFT RSP CLTC. With two decades of operation, the blog and 4structures.com are recognized as comprehensive resources, offering detailed guides and specialized insights. Established in 2005, the blog caters to a broad audience, including legal professionals, injured individuals, families, and various stakeholders, providing reviews and opinions on settlement planning. John Darer, President of 4structures.com LLC, is a seasoned structured settlement expert with over 40 years of financial services experience and 31 years specializing in structured settlements. Based in Stamford, CT, he is a Certified Financial Transitionist and Registered Settlement Planner, holding insurance licenses in 45 states and the District of Columbia. John Darer is dedicated to transparency and advocacy, he emphasizes the importance of engaging trained and licensed professionals for settlement planning, offering valuable insights through his investigative journalism and professional commentary.
Prolific Great Neck Medical Malpractice Lawyer serves up Trope-i-cal Cocktail”
“First, a structured settlement is simply a way for the defense to pay you money over a period of time” Gerald Oginski Great Neck, NY
That appears under the heading why his New York medical malpractice client REFUSES to take a structured settlement. The emphasis is Oginski’s.
Gerald Oginski’s “cocktail shaker” produces foul tasting “cough medicine” with this statement and he knows it. The statement by Oginski is both misleading and inaccurate.
Structured settlements are not funded over time.
The Defendant or Defendant’s insurer funds the cost of the future periodic payments up front
These amounts and periodic payments are required to be disclosed under the New York State General Obligations Law Section 5-1702(e)
Oginski states on his law firm’s website that he is a member of the New York State Trial Lawyers Association, New York State Academy of Trial Lawyers and the Nassau County Bar Association. NYSTLA solicits money from structured settlement brokers and other businesses that may be associated with a structured settlement broker/settlement planner and calls them “Partners for Justice”. Two such firms contribute more than $100,000 annually to NYSTLA. A member of NYSTLA has, in a prior year, published on a confidential NYSTLA listserve that its members should do business with a particular firm because they made a $60,000 contribution to NYSTLA. If Oginski’s trope (that can be heard in the sales pitches of cash now vultures) were true, then what would that say about NYSTLA, the New York State Academy or any other lawyers association that Oginski is affiliated with, that solicits money from (and takes money from) structured settlement brokers or settlement planners?
” Why did my lawyer not tell me about that?”
Any trial lawyer who believes the trope and is biased because of it, may be doing a massive disservice to their clients. Given that plaintiffs are increasingly doing their own research online, I hear from some of those people who ask me why did my lawyer (not specifically Oginski) not tell me about that?”
Oginski attempt to explain the trope:
“In a medical malpractice case here in New York, if your case goes to a jury verdict and the jury determines that you are entitled to receive compensation from the doctors and hospital who caused you harm, you are able to receive the first $250,000 upfront. The remaining amount of money is required to be paid out over a period of many years.
Oginski attempts to explain a structured settlement using a long outdated characteristic of a medical malpractice stuctured judgment
But they are not the same and Oginski hasn’t even got that right.
First, ALL pastdamages are paid up front. A portion of the future damages are also paid up front.
The amount of the future damages that are paid up front varies by the applicable section of the New York CPLR.
CPLR Article 50- A (CPLR 5031-5039) applies to Medical, Dental and Podiatric Malpractice since 1985. A companion law, CPLR Article 50-B (CPLR 5041-5049) applies to other types of judgments in personal injury, injury to property and wrongful death actions other than medical dental or podiatric malpractice.
Until July 25, 2003, when the so-called “New 50-A” went into effect, $250,000 was lopped off future damages, and paid in a lump sum, just like CPLR 50-B. After that date the amount and process for calcualtions was radically changed. That was more than 16 years ago!
In “Unintended Consequences of Tort Reform: Rent Seeking in New York State’s Structured Settlements Statutes” Spizman and Schmitt {2000), economists Lawrence Spizman and Elizabeth Dunne Smith inaccurately referred to New York’s CPLR Articles 50-A and 50-B as ‘structured settlement statutes”, when the pair are structured judgment statutes unique to New York.
Examples of legitimate structured settlement statutes
How can a lawyer and economists miss what is actually written in the CPLR Article 50A statute? To wit PERIODIC PAYMENT OF JUDGMENTS IN MEDICAL AND DENTAL MALPRACTICE ACTIONS
