by John Darer CLU ChFC MSSC CeFT RSP CLTC
Firmwide Qualified Settlement Funds (Firmwide QSFs “were all the rage” in a certain segment of the settlement planning industry not long ago
Firmwide Qualified Settlement Funds (Firmwide QSFs) featured in sweeping marketing video testimonals from trial lawyers
One firm’s still published marketing video claimed Firmwide QSFs as “the sole doctrine that a lawyer has at his or her disposal 
that offers complete control over the timing of revenue”
What Does “Complete Control” Mean?
Complete Control means the ownership, directly or indirectly, through one or more intermediaries, of both of the following: (a) (i) in the case of a corporation, all of the outstanding voting securities thereof; (ii) in the case of a limited liability company, partnership, limited partnership or venture, the right to all of the distributions therefrom (including liquidating distributions); (iii) in the case of a trust or estate, including a business trust, all of the beneficial interest or the power of a trustee therein; and (iv) in the case of any other entity, all of the economic or beneficial interest therein; and (b) in the case of any entity, the power and authority to completely control the management of the entity. Source: Law Insider
“Control as a verb is to exercise one’s power or authority over something or someone, to regulate or govern, or to have a controlling interest in. Control as a noun is the power to govern, manage, direct, or oversee something or someone”. Source: Legal Information Institute
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SIDE BAR
Ironically 45 years ago, English punk rockers The Clash had something to say about “complete control”…
“They said we’d be artistically freeWhen we signed that bit of paperThey meant “Let’s make a lots of moneyAnd worry about it later”
-Credit to Joe Strummer (1952-2002) & Mick Jones (1955-) The Clash “Complete Control” (1977)
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Trial lawyers with some money in the FirmWide QSF kitty, are learning that few traditional structured settlement annuity issuers want anything to do with entering into qualified assignment out of Firmwide QSFs
Back in the day, industry zealots pushed QSF’s as a furtive gesture around a Defendant’s insurer approved lists of structured settlement annuity issuers. Then came the Firmwide QSF.
- Pacific Life & Annuity Services, Inc. apparently will not take on a qualified assignment from a Firmwide QSF.
- Even Independent Life Insurance Company’s qualified assignment company won’t touch them according to our sources, even though Indpendent’s assignment company will take a qualified assignment from a single claimant QSF.
- Structured Assignments, SSC, a Barbados non qualified assignment company will not take an assignment from a Firmwide QSF.
Surely there’s a reason that this diverse group of settlement product providers that cater to the defense and plaintiff world shun the Firmwide QSF.