Scams in the structured settlement secondary market abound. If you are the recipient of a structured settlement annuity and receive a phone call from someone who says “I work with your insurance company and you are owed money” just hang up the phone. The caller doesn’t work with your insurance company, and you aren’t “owed […]
Senator Andrew Gounardes (D. 22nd) has sponsored a “same as” bill – S4864 to accompany A5818 – “AN ACT to amend the insurance law, in relation to providing protection to certain retirees from pension de-risking transactions; and to amend the civil practice law and rules, in relation to statutorily exempt payments” sponsored by Assemblyman Peter Abbate. […]
The IRS released a new notice earlier this month, which will allow defined benefit plan (DBP) sponsors to once again offer lump-sum buyouts to retirees who are receiving pension benefits. This practice of lump-sum buyouts was effectively halted in 2015 with the release of IRS Notice 2015-49. Prior to the 2015 IRS Notice, DBP’s regularly […]
A recent Appellate Court opinion from the 4th District in Illinois highlights more structured settlement factoring fraud. In this instance, Stone Street Capital, LLC purchased payments in four separate transactions from 2010 – 2013 filed in Sangamon County, Illinois. Stone Street filed four transfer petitions seeking to purchase structured settlement annuity payment streams from a […]
In its 2018 10-K, Maryland based chemical conglomerate, W.R. Grace & Co. reported that it has purchased a group annuity contract from Prudential Life Insurance Co. of America, transferring $117.4 million in pension liabilities. W.R. Grace recognized a $1.0 million gain on that transaction. Earlier in 2018, W.R. Grace’s U.S. pension plans paid $42.2 million in lump […]
In its recent SEC filing, paint giant Sherwin Williams disclosed that it had distributed lump sums to some of its pension plan participants in late 2018, and intended to continue its pension de-risking in 2019 via more lump-sum payments or the purchase of a group annuity contract. At the end of 2017, Sherwin William’s three […]
New York Assemblyman Peter Abbate has sponsored 2019 legislation to protect retirees in pension de-risking transfers. Assembly Bill A5818 – “AN ACT to amend the insurance law, in relation to providing protection to certain retirees from pension de-risking transactions; and to amend the civil practice law and rules, in relation to statutorily exempt payments” has been […]
Check out Edward Stone’s letter to the editor, appearing in the January 25, 2019 online edition of Crain’s New York Business, commenting upon the article “Trump deregulation binge puts state agencies on the spot”. Following up on Crain’s assertion that the New Jersey Department of Banking and Insurance is over matched when it comes to […]
On January 28, 2019, Superintendent of Financial Services for the State of New York, Maria Vullo, announced that the Department of Financial Services (DFS) had settled its dispute with MetLife over the insurers failure to make payments to thousands of retirees owed benefits under pension risk transfer annuity contracts that dated back to 1992. Under […]
On January 23, 2019, Weyerhaeuser announced that it had entered into an agreement with Athene Annuity and Life Company to purchase a group annuity contract that will transfer Weyerhaeuser’s pension benefit obligations for approximately 28,500 Weyerhaeuser retirees to Athene. This pension de-risking transfer will reduce Weyerhaeuser’s pension plan benefit obligations by approximately $1.5 billion. In anticipation […]
