Info Internet

A Structured Settlements

2006-11-18T09:18:00.000-08:00

Structured Settlement

A structured settlement is a financial or insurance arrangement, including periodic payments, that a claimant accepts to resolve a personal injury tort claim or to compromise a statutory periodic payment obligation. Structured settlements were first utilized in Canada and the United States during the 1970s as an alternative to lump sum settlements. Structured settlements are now part of the statutory tort law of several common law countries including: Australia, Canada, England and the United States. Although some uniformity exists, each of these countries has its own definitions, rules and standards for structured settlement. Structured settlements may include income tax and spendthrift requirements as well as benefits. Structured settlement payments are sometimes called “periodic payments”. A structured settlement incorporated into a trial judgment is called a “periodic payment judgment”.

Structured Settlements in the United States

The United States has enacted structured settlement laws and regulations at both the federal and state levels. Federal structured settlement laws include sections of the Federal Internal Revenue Code. State structured settlement laws include structured settlement protection statutes and periodic payment of judgment statutes. Medicaid and Medicare laws and regulations impact structured settlements. To preserve a claimant’s Medicare and Medicaid benefits, structured settlement payments may be incorporated into “Medicare Set Aside Arrangements” the “Special Needs Trusts”.

Definitions

The United States defines “structured settlement” for Federal income taxation purposes in Internal Revenue Code Section 5891 (c) (1) as an "arrangement" that meets the following requirements:
A structured settlement must be established by:
A suit or agreement for periodic payment of damages excludable from gross income under Internal Revenue Code Section 104(a)(2); or
An agreement for the periodic payment of compensation under any workers’ compensation law excludable under Internal Revenue Code Section 104(a)(1); and
The periodic payments must be of the character described in subparagraphs (A) and (B) of Internal Revenue Code Section 130(c)(2) and must be payable by a person who:
Is a party to the suit or agreement or to a workers compensation claims; or
By a person who has assumed the liability for such periodic payments under a Qualified Assignment in accordance with Internal Revenue Code Section 130.

Common Law

2006-11-18T08:25:00.000-08:00

Common Law
The common law forms a major part of the law of those countries of the world with a history as British territories or colonies. It is notable for its inclusion of extensive non-statutory law reflecting precedent derived from centuries of judgments by working jurists.
There are three important connotations to the term.
Common law as opposed to statutory law and regulatory law: The first connotation differentiates the authority that promulgated a particular proposition of law. For example, in most areas of law in most jurisdictions in the United States, there are "statutes" enacted by a legislature, "regulations" promulgated by executive branch agencies pursuant to a delegation of rule-making authority from a legislature, and "common law" decisions issued by courts (or quasi-judicial tribunals within agencies). This first connotation can be further differentiated, into (a) laws that arise purely from the common law without express statutory authority, for example, most of the criminal law, contract law, and procedural law before the 20th century, and (b) decisions that discuss and decide the fine boundaries and distinctions in statutes and regulations. See statutory law and non-statutory law.
Common law as opposed to civil law: The second connotation differentiates "common law" jurisdictions (most of which descend from the English legal system) that place great weight on such common law decisions, from "civil law" or "code" jurisdictions (many of which descend from the Napoleonic code in which the weight accorded judicial precedent is much less).
Law as opposed to equity: The third differentiates "common law" (or just "law") from "equity". Before 1873, England had two parallel court systems, courts of "law" that could only award money damages and recognised only the legal owner of property, and courts of "equity" that recognised trusts of property and could issue injunctions (orders to do or stop doing something). Although the separate courts were merged long ago in most jurisdictions, or at least all courts were permitted to apply both law and equity (though under potentially different laws of procedure), the distinction between law and equity remains important in (a) categorising and prioritising rights to property, (b) determining whether the Seventh Amendment's guarantee of a jury trial applies (a determination of a fact necessary to resolution of a "law" claim) or whether the issue can only be decided by a judge (issues of equity), and (c) in the principles that apply to the grant of equitable remedies by the courts.
Many important areas of law are governed primarily by common law. For example, in England and Wales and in most states of the United States, the basic law of contracts and torts does not exist in statute, but only in common law. In almost all areas of the law, statutes may give only terse statements of general principle, but the fine boundaries and definitions exist only in the common law. To find out what the law is, one has to locate precedential decisions on the topic, and reason from those decisions by analogy.

History of Common Law
Common law originally developed under the inquisitorial system in England from judicial decisions that were based in tradition, custom, and precedent. Such forms of legal institutions and culture bear resemblance to those which existed historically in continental Europe and other societies where precedent and custom have at times played a substantial role in the legal process, including Germanic law recorded in Roman historical chronicles. The form of reasoning used in common law is known as casuistry or case-based reasoning. The common law, as applied in civil cases (as distinct from criminal cases), was devised as a means of compensating someone for wrongful acts known as torts, including both intentional torts and torts caused by negligence, and as developing the body of law recognizing and regulating contracts. The type of procedure practised in common law courts is known as the adversarial system; this is also a development of the common law.
Before the institutional stability imposed on England by William the Conqueror in 1066, English residents, like those of many other societies, particularly the Germanic cultures of continental Europe, were governed by unwritten local customs that varied from community to community and were enforced in often arbitrary fashion. For example, courts generally consisted of informal public assemblies that weighed conflicting claims in a case and, if unable to reach a decision, might require an accused to test guilt or innocence by carrying a red-hot iron or snatching a stone from a cauldron of boiling water or some other "test" of veracity (trial by ordeal). If the defendant's wound healed within a prescribed period, he was set free as innocent; if not, execution usually followed.
In 1154, Henry II became the first Plantagenet king. Among many achievements, Henry institutionalized common law by creating a unified system of law "common" to the country through incorporating and elevating local custom to the national, ending local control and peculiarities, eliminating arbitrary remedies, and reinstating a jury system of citizens sworn on oath to investigate reliable criminal accusations and civil claims. The jury reached its verdict through evaluating common local knowledge, not necessarily through the presentation of evidence, a distinguishing factor from today's civil and criminal court systems.
Henry II's creation of a powerful and unified court system, which curbed somewhat the power of canonical (church) courts, brought him (and England) into conflict with the church, most famously, with Thomas Becket, the Archbishop of Canterbury. Things were resolved eventually, at least for a time, in Henry's favour when a group of his henchmen murdered Becket. For its part, the Church soon canonized Becket as a saint.
Thus, in English legal history, judicially-developed "common law" became the uniform authority throughout the realm several centuries before Parliament acquired the power to make laws.
As early as the 15th century, it became the practice that litigants who felt they had been cheated by the common-law system would petition the King in person. For example, they might argue that an award of damages (at common law) was not sufficient redress for a trespasser occupying their land, and instead request that the trespasser be evicted. From this developed the system of equity, administered by the Lord Chancellor, in the courts of chancery. By their nature, equity and law were frequently in conflict and litigation would frequently continue for years as one court countermanded the other, even though it was established by the 17th century that equity should prevail. A famous example is the fictional case of Jarndyce and Jarndyce in Bleak House, by Charles Dickens.
In England, courts of law and equity were combined by the Judicature Acts of 1873 and 1875, with equity being supreme in case of conflict.
In the United States, parallel systems of law (providing money damages) and equity (fashioning a remedy to fit the situation, including injunctive relief) survived well into the 20th century in many jurisdictions. The United States federal courts procedurally separated law and equity until they were combined by the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure in 1938 - the same judges could hear either kind of case, but a given case could only pursue causes in law or in equity, under two separate sets of procedural rules. This became problematic when a given case required both money damages and injunctive relief.
Delaware still has separate courts of law and equity, and in many states there are separate divisions for law and equity within one court.

Disability

2006-11-18T08:15:00.000-08:00

Disability
Disability refers to the social effects of physical, emotional or mental impairment. This definition, known as the 'social model' of disability, makes a clear distinction between the impairment itself (such as a medical condition that makes a person unable to walk or unable to sit) and the disabling effects of society in relation to that impairment. As Frank Bowe put it in Handicapping America (1978), the real issue is the societal response to disability: if a community allows physical, architectural, transportation, and other barriers to remain in place, society is creating handicaps that oppress individuals with disabilities. If, on the other hand, a community removes those barriers, persons with disabilities can function at much higher levels. In simple terms, it is not the inability to walk or inability to sit that prevents a person entering a building unaided but the existence of stairs or the lack of benches to lie down, that are inaccessible to a wheelchair-user or a person with sitting disability. In other words, 'disability' is socially constructed. The 'social model' is often contrasted with the 'medical model' which sees 'disability' as synonymous with 'impairment'.

Demographics of disability
Many books on disability and disability rights point out that 'disabled' is an identity that one is not necessarily born with, as disabilities are more often acquired than congenital. Some disability rights activists use an acronym TAB, Temporarily Able-Bodied, as a reminder that many people will develop disabilities at some point in their lives, due to accidents, illness (physical, mental or emotional), or late-emerging effects of genetics.
Current issues and debates surrounding 'disability' include social and political rights, societal inclusivity and citizenship. In developed countries the debate has moved beyond a concern about the perceived cost of maintaining dependent people with a disability to the struggle to find effective ways of ensuring people with a disability can participate in and contribute to society in all spheres of life.
An approach that has led to tangible improvements in the lives of people with disabilities in some regions has been the Independent Living Movement. The term "Independent Living" was taken from 1959 California legislation that enabled people who had acquired a disability due to polio to leave hospital wards and move back into the community with the help of cash benefits for the purchase of personal assistance with the activities of daily living. With its origins in the US civil rights and consumer movements of the late 1960s, the movement and its philosophy have since spread to other continents influencing people's self-perception, their ways of organizing themselves and their countries' social policy.
The disability rights movement, led by end-users rather than families and other carers, began in the 1970s. This self-advocacy is largely responsible for the shift toward independent living and accessibility.

Language and terminology
The American Psychological Association style guide devotes a large section to the discussion of individuals with disabilities, and states that in professional writing following this style, the person should come first, and nominal forms describing the disability should be used so that the disability is being described, but is not modifying the person. For instance: people with Down syndrome, a man with schizophrenia, and a girl with paraplegia. (This applies only to English and possibly other prepositional languages, not postpositional languages.) It also states that a person's adaptive equipment should be described functionally as something that assists a person, not as something that limits a person (e.g., "A woman who uses a wheelchair" rather than "in" it or "confined" to it - she leaves it at the very least for sleeping and bathing).

Internal Revenue Code

2006-11-18T08:02:00.000-08:00

Internal Revenue Code
The Internal Revenue Code (or IRC) (more formally, the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended) is the main body of domestic statutory tax law of the United States organized topically, including laws covering the income tax (see Income tax in the United States), payroll taxes, gift taxes, estate taxes and statutory excise taxes. The Internal Revenue Code is published as title 26 of the United States Code (USC), and is also known as the internal revenue title.

Genesis of tax codes in the United States
Prior to 1874, U.S. statutes were not codified. That is, they were not set forth in one comprehensive subject matter title, but were instead contained in the various acts passed by Congress. Codifications of statutes (including tax statutes) undertaken in 1873 resulted in the Revised Statutes of the United States, approved June 22, 1874, effective for the laws in force as of December 1, 1873 (title 35 of which was the internal revenue title). Another codification was undertaken in 1878.
In 1919, a committee of the U.S. House of Representatives began a project to recodify U.S. statutes which eventually resulted in a new code in 1926 (including tax statutes).

Internal Revenue Code of 1939
The tax statutes were re-codified by an Act of Congress on February 10, 1939 as the "Internal Revenue Code" (later known as the "Internal Revenue Code of 1939"). The 1939 Code was published as volume 53, Part I, of the United States Statutes at Large and as title 26 of the United States Code. Subsequent permanent tax laws enacted by the United States Congress updated and amended the 1939 Code.

Internal Revenue Code of 1954/1986
On August 16, 1954, in connection with a general overhaul of the Internal Revenue Service, the IRC was greatly reorganized by Congress and expanded. The code was published in volume 68A of the United States Statutes at Large. To prevent confusion with the 1939 Code, the new version was thereafter referred to as the Internal Revenue Code of 1954 and the prior version as the Internal Revenue Code of 1939. The lettering and numbering of subtitles, sections, etc., was completely changed. For example, section 22 of the 1939 Code (defining gross income) was roughly analogous to section 61 of the 1954 Code. The 1954 Code replaced the 1939 Code as title 26 of the United States Code.
Section 2 of the Tax Reform Act of 1986 provides (in part):
(a) Redesignation of 1954 Code. - The Internal Revenue Title enacted August 16, 1954, as heretofore, hereby, or hereafter amended, may be cited as the "Internal Revenue Code of 1986".
(b) References in Laws, Etc. - Except when inappropriate, any reference in any law, Executive order, or other document -
(1) to the Internal Revenue Code of 1954 shall include a reference to the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, and
(2) to the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 shall include a reference to the provisions of law formerly known as the Internal Revenue Code of 1954.
In effect, the '54 Code was renamed the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 by section 2 of the Tax Reform Act of 1986. The 1986 Act contained substantial amendments, but no formal re-codification. That is, the 1986 Code retained the most of the same lettering and numbering of subtitles, chapters, subchapters, parts, subparts, sections, etc. The 1986 Code, as amended from time to time (and still published as title 26 of the United States Code), retains the basic structure of the 1954 Code.
The Internal Revenue Code includes most but not all Federal tax statutes. Some tax statutes are found in other provisions of the United States Code including title 11 (related to bankruptcy) and title 28 (related to the judiciary). Further, some tax statutes are not codified at all (for example, the provisions of tax statutes that list the effective dates of Internal Revenue Code amendments).

Individual income tax
Perhaps the most widely known function of the IRC is that it is the law which requires all Americans to pay a Federal income tax. Indeed, the first operative words of the document are the title to § 1, "Tax imposed", and Section 1 of the Internal Revenue Code describes the exact dollar amounts and percentages of income that the law requires must be paid as income tax.

Special needs trust

2006-11-18T07:44:00.000-08:00

agdqgSpecial needs trust

A special needs trust is created to ensure that beneficiaries who are developmentally disabled or mentally ill can enjoy the use of property which is intended to be held for their benefit. In addition to personal planning reasons for such a trust (the person may lack the mental capacity to handle their financial affairs) there may be fiscal advantages to the use of a trust. Such trusts may also avoid beneficiaries losing access to essential government benefits.
A trust for a disabled beneficiary may be set up in any of the common law countries or other countries which recognise the concept of the trust. They have particular advantages in legislation in relation to both taxation and state benefits in the United Kingdom and in relation to the provision of healthcare under the state-sponsored Medicaid welfare system in the United States of America.
In the USA, Special Needs Trusts provide benefits to, and protect the assets of, physically disabled or mentally disabled persons and still allow such persons to be qualified for and receive governmental health care benefits, especially long-term care and nursing home benefits under the Medicaid welfare program. Special Needs Trusts are frequently used to receive an inheritance or personal injury settlement proceeds on behalf of a disabled person in order to allow the person to qualify for Medicaid benefits. Special Needs Trusts are also known as Supplemental Needs Trusts in the USA and a more detailed article on the US specific characteristics of such trusts is found at that page.
Special Needs Trusts are frequently founded from the proceeds of compensation for criminal injuries, litigation or insurance settlements. A common feature of trusts in all common law jurisdictions is that they may be run either by family members (a private trust) or by trustees appointed by the court. Especially where a trust is to be established for a disabled child or young person, great care is generally taken in the choice of appropriate trustees to manage the trust assets and to deal with future replacement appointments. The use of a private discretionary trust can not only be more efficient in terms of taxation and access to government benefits but can also allow for more efficient investment of funds held than where funds are held by a court official (such as the Official Receiver in England and Wales). However where no appropriate trustees can be found, e.g. on the death of existing trustees, the court will intervene.

Structured settlement factoring transaction

2006-11-18T07:40:00.000-08:00

Structured settlement factoring transaction

A Structured Settlement Factoring transaction describes the selling or encumbering of future structured settlement payments (or, more accurately, rights to receive the future structured settlement payments). People who receive structured settlement payments (viz, payment of personal injury damages over time instead of in a lump sum at settlement) may decide at some point that they need more money than the periodic payment provides. The reasons are varied but can include unforeseen medical expenses for oneself or a dependent, the need for improved housing or transportation, education expenses and the like. To meet this need, the structured settlement recipient can sell (or, less commonly, encumber) all or part of their future periodic payments for a present lump sum.

History
Structured settlements experienced an explosion in use beginning in the 1980s.[1] The growth is most likely attributable to the favorable federal income tax treatment such settlements receive as a result of the 1982 amendment of the tax code to add § 130.[2] [3] Internal Revenue Code § 130 provides, inter alia, substantial tax incentives to insurance companies that establish “qualified” structured settlements.[4] There are other advantages for the original tort defendant (or casualty insurer) in settling for payments over time, in that they benefit from the time value of money (most demonstrable in the fact that an annuity can be purchased to fund the payment of future periodic payments, and the cost of such annuity is far less than the sum total of all payments to be made over time). Finally, the tort plaintiff also benefits in several ways from a structured settlement, notably in the ability to receive the periodic payments from an annuity that gains investment value over the life of the payments, and the settling plaintiff receives the total payments, including that “inside build-up” value, tax-free.[5]
However, a substantial downside to structured settlements comes from their inherent inflexibility.[6] To take advantage of the tax benefits allotted to defendants who choose to settle cases using structured settlements, the periodic payments must be set up to meet basic requirements [set forth in IRC 130(c)]. Among other things, the payments must be fixed and determinable, and cannot be accelerated, deferred, increased or decreased by the recipient.[7] For many structured settlement recipients, the periodic payment stream is their only asset. Therefore, over time and as recipients’ personal situations change in ways unpredicted at the settlement table, demand for liquidity options rises. To offset the liquidity issue, most structured settlement recipients, as a part of their total settlement, will receive an immediate sum to be invested to meet the needs not best addressed through the use of a structured settlment.
Beginning in the late 1980s, a few small financial institutions started to meet this demand and offer new flexibility for structured settlement payees.[8]

Process

Pre-2002
Before the enactment of IRC 5891, which became effective on July 1, 2002, some states regulated the transfer of structured settlement payment rights, while others did not. Most states that regulated transfers at this time followed a general pattern, substantially similar to the present day process which is mandated in IRC 5891 (see below for more details of the post-2002 process). However, the majority of the transfers processed from 1988 to 2002 were not court ordered.[9] After negotiating the terms of the transaction (including the payments to be sold and the price to be paid for those payments), a formal purchase contract was executed, affecting an assignment of the subject payments upon closing. Part of this assignment process also included the grant of a security interest in the structured settlement payments, to secure performance of the seller’s obligations. Filing a public lien based on that security agreement created notice of this assignment and interest. The insurance company issuing the structured settlement annuity checks was typically not given actual notice of the transfer, due to antagonism by the insurance industry against factoring and transfer companies.

Federal legislation
In 2001, Congress passed HR 2884, signed into law by the President in 2002 and effective July 1, 2002, becoming Internal Revenue Code § 5891.[10] Through a punitive excise tax penalty, this has created the de facto regulatory paradigm for the factoring industry. In essence, to avoid the excise tax penalty, IRC 5891 requires that all structured settlement factoring transaction be approved by a state court, in accordance with a qualified state statute. Qualified state statues must make certain baseline findings, including that the transfer is in the best interest of the seller, taking into account the welfare and support of any dependents. In response, many states enacted statutes regulating structured settlement transfers in accord with this mandate.

Post-2002
Today, all transfers are completed through a court order process. As of September 6, 2006, 46 states have transfer laws in place regulating the transfer process. Of these, 41 are based in whole or in part on the model state law enacted by the National Conference of Insurance Legislators (or, in cases when the state law predates the model act, they are substantially similar).
Most state transfer laws contain similar provisions, as follows:
(1) pre-contract disclosures to be made to the seller concerning the essentials of the transaction;
(2) notice to certain interested parties;
(3) an admonition to seek professional advise concerning the proposed transfer; and
(4) court approval of the transfer, including a finding that it is in the best interest of seller, taking into account the welfare and support of any dependents.

TORT

2006-11-18T06:57:00.000-08:00

Defamation
Defamation means tarnishing the reputation of someone. It is divided into two parts, slander and libel. Slander is spoken defamtion and libel is defaming somebody through print. Both share the same features. To defame someone, you must (a) make a factual assertion (b) for which you cannot provide evidence of its truth. Defamation does not affect the voicing of opinions, but comes into the same fields as rights to free speech in the US Constitution's First Amendment, or the European Convention's Article 10. Related to defamation in the U.S. are the actions for misappropriation of publicity, invasion of privacy, and disclosure. Abuse of process and malicious prosecution are often classified as dignitary torts as well.

Intentional torts
Intentional torts are any intentional acts that are reasonably foreseeable to cause harm to an individual, and that do so. Intentional torts have several subcategories, including tort(s) against the person, including assault, battery, false imprisonment, and intentional infliction of emotional distress. Property torts involve any intentional interference with the property rights of the claimant. Those commonly recognized include trespass to land, trespass to chattels, and conversion.

Statutory Torts
A statutory tort is like any other, by imposing duties on private parties, except that they are created by Parliament, not the courts. One example is in consumer protection, with the Product Liability Directive in the EU, where businesses making defective products that harm people must pay for any damage resulting. Another is the Occupiers' Liability Acts in the UK whereby a person, such as a shoponwer, who invites others onto land, or has trespassers, owes a minimum duty of care for people's safety. One early case was Cooke v Midland Great Western Railway of Ireland, where Lord MacNaughton felt that children who were hurt whilst looking for berries on a building site, should have some compensation for their unfortunate curiosity. Statutory torts also spread across workplace health and safety laws and health and safety in food produce.

Competition Law
A major subset of statutory torts, which deserves its own category is created in Competition Law, or 'Anti-Trust' Law in the U.S. Articles 81 and 82 of the Treaty of the European Union, as well as the Clayton and Sherman Acts in the U.S. create duties for undertakings, corporations, businesses, to not distort competition on the market. Cartels are forbidden on both sides of the Atlantic. So is the abuse of market power by monopolists, or the substantial lessening of competition through a merger, acquisition, or concentration of enterprises. A huge issue in the E.U. is whether to follow the U.S. approach of private damages actions to prevent anti-competitive conduct.

Economic Torts
Strikers gathering in Tyldesley in the 1926 General Strike in the U.K.
Founded in the doctrine of restraint of trade there is a group of torts that exist for the purpose of controlling unions. In Britain, the most notable case is Taff Vale Railway v. Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants [4]. The House of Lords thought that unions should be liable in tort for helping workers to go on strike for better pay and conditions. Further torts used against unions include conspiracy, interference with a commercial contract or intimidation.

Vicarious Liability
'Vicarius' is the Latin for 'change' or 'alternation' and in tort law refers to the idea of Mr A being liable for the harm caused by Mrs B, because of some legally relevant relationship. An example might be a parent and a child, or an employer and an employee. You can sue an employer for the damage to you by her employee, which was caused 'in the course of employment'. So if a Walmart employee spilled cleaning liquid on the supermarket floor, failed to put up a warning sign, and you slipped and broke your neck, then Walmart Managers cannot say "this was that stupid employee's fault, and not ours". The law replies "since your employee harmed the claimant in the course of his employment at Walmart, you bear responsibility for it, because you have the control to hire and fire him, and reduce the risk of it happening again." There is considerable academic debate about whether vicarious liability is justified on no better basis than the search for a solvent defendant, or whether it is well founded on the theory of efficient risk allocation.

Defences
Finding a successful defence absolves the defendant from full or partial liability for damages, which makes them valuable commodities in the court. There are three main defences to tortious liability.

Volenti Non Fit Injuria
This is Latin for "a willing victim cannot claim." It operates when the claimant either expressly or implicitly consents to the risk of loss or damage. For example, if a regular spectator at an ice hockey match is injured when a player strikes the puck in the ordinary course of play, causing it to fly out of the rink and hit him or her, this is a foreseeable event and regular spectators are assumed to accept that risk of injury when buying a ticket. A slightly more limited defense may arise where the defendant has given a warning, whether expressly to the plaintiff/claimant or by a public notice, sign or otherwise, that there is a danger of injury. The extent to which defendants can rely on notices to exclude or limit liability varies from country to country. This is an issue of policy as to whether defendants should not only warn of a known danger, but also take active steps to fence the site and take other reasonable precautions to prevent the known danger from befalling those foreseen to be at risk.

Contributory Negligence
This either a mitigatory defense or, in the U.S., it may be an absolute defence. The general rule is that a plaintiff/claimant's award is reduced by the percentage of contribution made to the loss or damage suffered. Thus, in evaluating a collision between two vehicles, the court must not only make a finding that both drivers were negligent, but it must also apportion the contribution made by each driver as a percentage, e.g. that the blame between the drivers is 20% attributable to the plaintiff/claimant: 80% to the defendant. The court will then quantify the damages for the actual loss or damage sustained, and then reduce the amount paid to the plaintiff/claimant by 20%. In the U.S., if the defendant proves both that the plaintiff/claimant also acted negligently and that this negligence contributed to the loss or damage suffered, this is a complete defense. This doctrine has been widely criticized as draconian, in that a plaintiff whose fault was comparatively minor might recover nothing from a more egregiously irresponsible defendant. In all but four U.S. states, it has been replaced judicially or legislatively by the doctrine of comparative negligence, under which the court will reduce the plaintiff's damages by the degree to which the plaintiff's own negligence contributed to his or her loss.

Illegality
Ex turpi causa non oritur actio is the illegality defence, the Latin for "no right of action arises from a despicable cause". If the claimant is involved in wrongdoing at the time the alleged negligence occurred, this may extinguish or reduce the defendant's liability. Thus, if a burglar is verbally challenged by the property owner and sustains injury when jumping from a second story window to escape apprehension, there is no cause of action against the property owner even though that injury would not have been sustained "but for" the property owner's intervention.

Remedies
The main remedy against tortious loss is compensation in 'damages' or money. In a limited range of cases, tort law will tolerate self-help, such as reasonable force to expel a trespasser. This is a defence against the tort of battery. Further, in the case of a continuing tort, or even where harm is merely threatened, the courts will sometimes grant an injunction. This means a command, for something other than money by the court, such as restraining the continuance or threat of harm. Usually injunctions will not impose positive obligations on tortfeasors, but some Australian jurisdictions can make an order for specific performance to ensure that the defendant carries out their legal obligations, especially in relation to nuisance matters. [10]

Theory and Reform
In The Aims of the Law of Tort (1951) Glanville Williams saw four possible bases on which different torts rested: appeasement, justice, deterrence and compensation. The differences in types of available damages represents some of the conflicting aims that scholars and lawyers wish to hoist onto tool of tort. From the late 1950s there grew a school of economists-cum-lawyers who emphasized incentives and deterrence, the aim of tort being an efficient distribution of risks in the law. Ronald Coase thought, in his article 'Problem of Social Cost' (1961), that the aim of tort should be to reflect as closely as possible liability where transaction costs should be minimised. Calls for reform come from different directions, according to the purposes people think tort should have.
In New Zealand, the Government in the 1960s established a no-fault system of state compensation for accidents. Proposals have been the subject of Command Papers in the UK and all the academic interest that would be expected. There is also an important question surrounding pure economic loss and public body liability, what is the right balance between fault and policy. Because of all people who have accidents, only some can find solvent defendants in tort accidents, P.S. Atiyah has called the situation a Damages Lottery.[11] In the U.S. calls for reform have tended to be for drastic limitation on the scope of tort law, a minimisation process on the lines of economic analysis. Anti-trust damages have come into special scrutiny[12], and many people believe the availability of punitive damages generally are a strain on the legal system. Furthermore, the 'right to a jury' in the U.S. is believed to have fostered a litigation culture, increasing the cost and length of trials.

Tort and Criminal Law
There is some overlap between crime and tort, since tort, a private action used to be used more than criminal laws in centuries gone. For example, in English law an assault is both a crime and a tort (a form of trespass to the person). A tort allows a person, usually the victim, to obtain a remedy that serves their own purposes (for example by the payment of damages to a person injured in a car accident, or the obtaining of injunctive relief to stop a person interfering with their business). Criminal actions on the other hand are pursued not to obtain remedies to assist a person (although often Criminal courts do have power to grant such remedies), but to remove their liberty on the state's behalf. That explains why incarceration is usually available as a penalty for serious crimes, but not usually for torts.
Many jurisdictions, especially the U.S. retain punitive elements in tort damages, for example in Anti-trust and consumer related torts, making tort blur the line with actually criminal acts. Also there are situations where, particularly if the defendant ignores the orders of the court, a plaintiff can obtain a punitive remedy against the defendant, including imprisonment. Some torts may have a public element — for example, public nuisance, — and sometimes actions in tort will be brought by a public body. Also, while criminal law is primarily punitive, many jurisdictions have developed forms of monetary compensation or restitution which criminal courts can directly order the defendant to pay to the victim.

Tort by legal jurisdiction
Legal jurisdictions whose legal system developed from the English common law have the concept of tortious liability. There are technical differences from one jurisdiction to the next in proving the various torts. For the issue of foreign elements in tort see Tort and Conflict of Laws.

A Structured Settlements

2006-11-18T04:03:00.000-08:00

Structured Settlements

A structured settlement is a financial or insurance arrangement, including periodic payments, that a claimant accepts to resolve a personal injury tort claim or to compromise a statutory periodic payment obligation. Structured settlements were first utilized in Canada and the United States during the 1970s as an alternative to lump sum settlements. Structured settlements are now part of the statutory tort law of several common law countries including: Australia, Canada, England and the United States. Although some uniformity exists, each of these countries has its own definitions, rules and standards for structured settlement. Structured settlements may include income tax and spendthrift requirements as well as benefits. Structured settlement payments are sometimes called “periodic payments”. A structured settlement incorporated into a trial judgment is called a “periodic payment judgment”.

Structured Settlements in the United States

The United States has enacted structured settlement laws and regulations at both the federal and state levels. Federal structured settlement laws include sections of the Federal Internal Revenue Code. State structured settlement laws include structured settlement protection statutes and periodic payment of judgment statutes. Medicaid and Medicare laws and regulations impact structured settlements. To preserve a claimant’s Medicare and Medicaid benefits, structured settlement payments may be incorporated into “Medicare Set Aside Arrangements” the “Special Needs Trusts”.

Definitions

The United States defines “structured settlement” for Federal income taxation purposes in Internal Revenue Code Section 5891 (c) (1) as an "arrangement" that meets the following requirements:
A structured settlement must be established by:
A suit or agreement for periodic payment of damages excludable from gross income under Internal Revenue Code Section 104(a)(2); or
An agreement for the periodic payment of compensation under any workers’ compensation law excludable under Internal Revenue Code Section 104(a)(1); and
The periodic payments must be of the character described in subparagraphs (A) and (B) of Internal Revenue Code Section 130(c)(2) and must be payable by a person who:
Is a party to the suit or agreement or to a workers compensation claims; or
By a person who has assumed the liability for such periodic payments under a Qualified Assignment in accordance with Internal Revenue Code Section 130.

DUIT 5 Juta per Bulan itu Mudah, Asal Tau Caranya.

2006-11-07T04:37:00.000-08:00

1.Daftar dulu ke site dibawah ini http://www.kazook. net/?r=1338
Anda akan dikirim email aktifasi seperti kalau anda ikut program auto surfing, klik link yang diberikan untuk aktifasi account anda.

2.Mencari 20 orang yang mau 5 juta perbulan

3.Login ke account anda, terlebih dahulu anda harus menyiapkan 200 kata yang akan dimasukan terserah boleh nama binatang,hotel, artis,tempat atau apa saja dalam bahasa indonesia atau inggris. Anda dapat memasukan kata yang sama pada besok harinya.

4.Setelah anda login ke account anda mulai search klik search diaccount anda maka anda akan dibawa kesearch engine mereka yang bekerjasama dengan google,yahoo, altavista dan lain-lain pilih salah satu saja.

5. Setelah itu masukan kata yang anda telah siapkan misalnya cat dan akan keluar seperti search engine biasa.setelah itu anda klik search lagi di account anda, bukan di web google atau search engine yang anda pakai tadi dan masukan kata yang kedua begitu seterusnya sampai anda 200 kata, bila benar anda akan dapat 2 USD diaccount anda caranya klik my account akan terlihat seperti dibawah ini :

Your Paid Searches Today: 0
Server Time: 4:10am
Total Referrals: 25 (View)
Current Balance to be Paid: $81.250
Personal Earnings: $21.4300
Earnings via Referrals: $59.820
Total Amount Already Paid: $0.0000

Paid out program ini memang cukup besar yaitu 500 USD via paypal, kabar baik paypal bisa menerima member dari Indonesia dan anda harus verived dahulu kepaypal agar bisa menerima uang dari program ini. Dalam 1 menit biasanya saya dapat masukan 6 kata, jadi kurang dari satu jam saya bisa menyelesaikannya 6.kalau anda benar maka anda akan mendapatkan hasil 2 USD (sedikit ya) tapi bila dikali 30 hari anda akan dapat 60 USD, dan dalam waktu kurang lebih 9 bulan anda pasti akan mencapai 500 USD.

7.untuk mempercepat penghasilan kita anda harus mensponsori orang karena 50% dari hasil pendapatan downline anda akan diberikan ke anda. Misal sponsori 20 orang dan masing-masing dari mereka mengikuti cara kerja anda memasukan 200 kata dalam search engine maka total incomenya adalah 2x20 = 40 USD dimana 50% dari 40USD adalah 20 USD artinya dalam satu bulan anda akan dapat 600 USD. Program ini benar-benar gratis anda tidak perlu upgrade untuk dibayar, memang harus cari referal itu kalau anda mau lebih cepat dapat uangnya.Anda tidak boleh melakukan spam dengan mendaftarkan nama dowline fiktif iklankan saja link referal anda di forum,autosurfing lebih cepat sih secara ofline Kalau lihat traffic di alexa cukup baik,tidak ada salahnya mencoba mumpung gratisSilahkan mencoba bila ada yang kurang jelas hubungi saya.

Terimakasih,
Salam sukses

Rony Setaiwan