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January 10, 2018 - For plaintiffs, their attorneys, employers and the casualty companies representing them who negotiate, litigate and resolve non-physical injury claims, life just got a whole lot better.
Earlier this week, one of the most well-established life insurers in America announced it is upping its structured settlement game.
MetLife will now accept structured settlements via the Non-Qualified Assignment process through its Delaware domiciled MetLife Assignment Company, Inc.
This excellent news couldn't be timelier given Liberty Life Assurance Company of Boston's recent decision to cease its non-qualified assignment operations. Our firm expects MetLife to dominate this under-served marketplace for the foreseeable future.
With over 95 billion dollars in Direct Written Premium (2016 results), MetLife, Inc. is the number one ranked writer of life insurance/annuities in the United States boasting a 15.2% market share according to the Insurance Information Institute.
Non-Physical Injury Structured Settlements
Non-physical injury structured settlements using non-qualified assignments have been in use since the mid-1990s and are popular because they help solve the
fairness imbalance created when large taxable awards and settlements resolve for cash while
enhancing negotiation flexibility during the evaluation and negotiation phase of taxable damage claims handling.
Structured settlements for
physical injury claims remain popular and broadly implemented but as we have argued for years, structured settlements for
non-physical injury claims hold infinitely more potential to produce a more equitable case resolution by better managing an aggrieved party's tax liability while simultaneously allowing the defendant to terminate its obligation and extinguish any contingent liability.
Among the types of lawsuits ideally suited for this option:
Wrongful termination,
sexual and non-sexual harassment,
discrimination,
emotional distress not stemming from a physical injury,
construction defect,
contract disputes,
punitive damages,
environmental claims,
D&O and E&O claims,
attorney fees associated with these types of cases
Damages attributable to wages and certain other types of damages are ineligible but a nearly infinite possibility exists to help resolves these types of claims more effectively.
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