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Introduction Having previously attended and reviewed the 2024 Annual Conferences of the Society of Settlement Planners (SSP) and the National Association of Settlement Consultants (AASC), the 2024 Annual Conference of the National Structured Settlement Trade Association (NSSTA) offered this writer the third and most comprehensive opportunity this Spring to evaluate the status of, and outlook...

Introduction This past week, a three-judge panel of U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals heard oral arguments in a lawsuit seeking class action certification brought by Plaintiff-Appellees Renaldo White and Randolf Nadeau against Defendant-Appellants Symetra Assigned Benefits Service Company (SABSCO) and Symetra Life Insurance Company (Symetra Life) – herein sometimes referred to jointly as “Symetra.”...

Several class action lawsuits, almost always settled without admission of liability, have nonetheless helped shape, and arguably have helped to improve, structured settlement business practices in the United States. Examples include: the Weil lawsuit ; Macomber v. Travelers; Spencer v. Hartford; and Griffiths v. Aviva. On Tuesday October 17, 2023, in Phoenix, a three-judge panel...