The National Structured Settlement Trade Association (NSSTA) hosted its 2008 Annual Meeting at the Hilton La Jolla Torrey Pines Resort April 16-19. Approximately 250 persons attended.
This S2KM blog post summarizes the 2008 NSSTA Annual Meeting. A subsequent S2KM blog post will provide observations and commentary.
The 2008 NSSTA Annual Meeting lacked a specific theme and keynote speaker. However, in his brief introductory comments to NSSTA members, newly-named NSSTA Executive Director Joseph Ricci set the meeting tone when he characterized structured settlements as a "transitional industry". Ricci, representing SmithBucklin, NSSTA's new management company, succeeds Randy Dyer as Executive Director. In La Jolla, NSSTA honored and thanked Elvie Lou Luetge, Dyer's longtime assistant, "for her many years of dedicated service to NSSTA".
Additional Highlights from the NSSTA Annual Meeting:
- Retiring NSSTA President Henry Strong introduced Chris
Diamantis as NSSTA's 22nd President. Speaking on behalf of the NSSTA
Board of Directors, Strong had earlier identified the following
management priorities for NSSTA and SmithBucklin at the NSSTA 2007 Fall Meeting:
- Expand the structured settlement market;
- Recapture the structured settlement brand;
- Improve NSSTA's Internet technology competences;
- Increase NSSTA's financial strength and accountability.
- Diamantis
confirmed a "New Age" for NSSTA with Ricci and SmithBucklin. He also summarized the results from NSSTA's most recent strategic plan. To
better "define and confront its challenges", Diamantis identified the
following strategic issues as prioritized by NSSTA's Board of Directors:
- Factoring
- Advocacy and marketing
- Professionalism
- Governance and communication
- Diamantis
introduced the following new Directors, elected by NSSTA's voting
members, to replace retiring NSSTA Board members Jeff Bowers, John
Roeser, and J.P. Steele:
- Dan Durbin
- Jim Logan
- Larry Niemi
- Steele announced the results of a Structured Settlements Survey Report sponsored by AIG and conducted in September 2007 by Esearch.com, Inc. The results of the survey, which appear on the AIG website, highlight the need to better educate plaintiff attorneys and injury victims about structured settlements.
- NSSTA Lobbyist Eric Vaughn delivered an informative "Washington Report". Vaughn's report:
- Analyzed the upcoming 2008 election from a structured settlement perspective;
- Summarized current structured settlement legislative and regulatory issues;
- Highlighted federal IRA-like proposals for "Disability Savings Accounts" as "the most critical legislative issue" confronting the structured settlement industry;
- Announced NSSTA's intention to expand its legislative alliances with other trade associations;
- Further reported:
- A communication from a recent White House meeting where one participant predicted the structured settlement market could grow to $12 to $18 billion per year - if structured settlements can successfully be integrated with other government benefits including Medicare and Medicaid;
- Congress has pushed back enforcement of the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005. Regulations are expected.
- CMS is not yet enforcing or requiring MSAs in liability cases. Regulations are expected.
- As part of a NSSTA Legal Committee educational report that also
featured Vaughn and tax expert Tom Ronce, Committee Chairman Michael
Miller:
- Echoed the theme of industry change by highlighting the growing number and complexity of structured settlement legal cases;
- Summarized recent NSSTA Legal Committee education topics including:
- Agent responsibilities and exposures;
- Settlement documentation.
- Provided only the second educational presentation about structured settlement factoring for NSSTA members since 2001 - the previous NSSTA presentation about factoring occurred at the 2007 NSSTA Winter Meeting. In addition to his historical overview of factoring, Miller also summarized results from 100 factoring cases in which his law firm, Drinker Biddle, has participated since January 2008.
- Of the 100 cases:
- State judges approved 88 cases and denied 2 cases;
- 10 cases were withdrawn prior to a judicial decision.
- Miller listed the discount rates for each case and characterized the discount rates as generally excessive.
- Other topics and speakers at the 2008 NSSTA Annual included:
- An Actuary's Perspective on Structured Settlement Pricing - Joel Cohn
- State Guaranty Funds Primer - Craig Ulman
- How to Educate Attorneys on Special Needs Trusts - Bradley Frigon
- Etiquette Through the Eyes of the Mediator - Bill Burrow, Troy Roe, Andrew Albert, Pat Farber
- The Cost of Rating It Wrong - Robert Michael Shavelle, Vinaya Sharma
- Mass Tort Insiders - Thomas Girardi, Pat Farber, Walter Lack
- Personal Branding - Peter Montoya
- The Next Frontier - James Logan, Leah Jamison
For S2KM's most recent coverage of NSSTA see:
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