Thomas W. Little, Former President of National Structured Settlements Trade Associ- ation, on behalf of the NSSTA); Letter from Malcolm Deener, President, NSSTA, to Gregory F. Jenner, Acting Assistant Secretary for Tax Policy, Department of the Trea- sury, and Donald L. Korb, Chief Counsel, I.R.S. (May 10, 2004), available at http:// www.risklawfirm.com/files/DeweyBallentineltrtoSenBaucus06-29-04.pdf [hereinafter NSSTA Letter]. 15. Risk, A Case, supra note 7, at 644 n.13 (citing Press Release, Peter Arnold, NSSTA, Structured Settlements Industry Maintains Surging Popularity in 2002 (Jan. 30, 2003)); cf. Scales, supra note 2, at 882 n.72 (citing Press Release, National Struc- tured Settlements Trade Ass’n, Structured Settlements Industry Reports 19 Percent Surge in Demand During 2001; $6.05B Is Best Year in History (Feb. 5, 2002)). In the past, some have estimated the value to reach some $10 billion, Tax Treatment of Structured Settlements: Hearing Before the Subcomm. on Oversight of the H. Comm. on Ways and Means, 106th Cong. 78 (1999) [hereinafter 1999 Hearing] (written statement of J.G. Wentworth, a finance company that purchases and securitizes struc- tured settlements), or even $12 billion. Anthony Riccardi & Thomas Ireland, A Pri- mer on Annuity Contracts, Structured Settlements, and Periodic-Payment Judgments, 12 J. LEGAL ECON. 1, 8 (2002–2003) (citing http://www.nssta.com). 16. See Christopher Sheffield, Evolve Financial Division Ramps Up Marketing to Grow Settlement Business, MEMPHIS BUS. J., Feb. 1, 2008, available at http://bir- mingham.bizjournals.com/memphis/stories/2008/02/04/story11.html. The study by Towers Perrin reported total tort costs in the United States of $252 billion in 2007. TOWERS PERRIN, 2008 UPDATEOF U.S. TORT COST TRENDS 3, available at http:// www.towersperrin.com/tp/getwebcachedoc?webc=USA/2008/200811/2008_tort_ costs_trends.pdf. The total incorporates the benefits paid or expected to be paid to third parties, defense costs, and administrative expenses. Id. at 8. Patrick J. Hindert, author of STRUCTURED SETTLEMENTSAND PERIODIC PAYMENTS, suggests that pay- ments to injury victims and their attorneys reached $161 billion in 2006, based on one of the Towers Perrin study principals. Patrick J. Hindert, Structured Settlement Surveys, BEYOND STRUCTURED SETTLEMENTS, Nov. 23, 2008, http://s2kmblog. typepad.com/rethinking_structured_set/2008/11/structured-settlement-surveys.html. 17. Some in the industry believe that the current economic uncertainty and declin- ing investment performance drives more people to consider structured settlements. Telephone Interview with Betty Gregware, Sales Executive, John Hancock Life Insur- ance Co. (Feb. 29, 2009) [hereinafter Gregware Interview]; E-mail from John McCul- loch, Vice President National Marketing Director, EPS Settlement Group, Inc., to Jeremy Babener, J.D. Candidate, Class of 2010, New York University School of Law (Feb. 9, 2009, 8:30:59 EST) (on file with author) [hereinafter McCulloch E-mail] (predicting increased use of structured settlements as a result of a “flight to quality”). 18. See Press Release, J.G. Wentworth, The #1 Reason Consumers Sell Their Structured Settlements Is to Pay Bills, According to Survey by J.G. Wentworth (Nov. 8 LEGISLATION AND PUBLIC POLICY [Vol.13:1 Unsurprisingly, an industry has spawned and expanded to meet and drive demand. As of 2000, there were approximately 430 full- time structured settlement brokers. 19 As of 2001, more than two dozen insurance companies were selling structured settlement annuities. 20 Early on, structured settlements faced opposition within the plaintiff attorney field. 21 By 1983, however, some plaintiff attorneys were already initiating structured settlement discussions of their own accord. 22 Currently, they are applauded by plaintiffs, defendants, and brokers alike. 23 The National Structured Settlements Trade Associa- tions (NSSTA) can point to many supporters of structured settle- ments. 24 For example, Andrew J. Imparato, the President of the American Association of People with Disabilities, said, “[s]tructured settlements are a model benefit for people with disabilities.”25 Because the tax exemption favors the plaintiff, defendant, and broker, 26 the exemption rarely faces serious scrutiny. Perhaps the most thorough examination, aside from a rare few academic articles, was provided by a sister industry spawned in the 1990s. 27 The “fac- toring”28 industry, populated by companies who purchase the future stream of income of a structured settlement annuity from former claimants, was strongly criticized by the structured settlement selling 4, 2008), available at http://www.jgwentworth.com/About/News/Press/Detail. aspx?i=46 [hereinafter The #1 Reason]. 19. Richard B. Risk, Jr., Structured Settlements: The Ongoing Evolution From a Liability Insurer’s Ploy to an Injury Victim’s Boon, 36 TULSA L.J. 865, 879 (2001) [hereinafter Risk, Structured Settlements]. 20. Id. at 878. 21. Vasilios B. Choulos, Structured Settlements: Cure or Curse?, 16 TRIAL 73, 74 (Nov. 1980). 22. A Roundtable, supra note 10, at 72 (comments of Herb Cumming). 23. See Scales, supra note 2, at 887. 24. National Structured Settlements Trade Association, Independent Voices, http:// www.nssta.com/i4a/pages/index.cfm?pageid=3291 (last visited Jan. 20, 2009). 25. Id. (quoting Andrew J. Imparato, President, American Association of People with Disabilities). 26. Scales, supra note 2, at 887. 27. Margaret Mannix, Settling for Less: Should Accident Victims Sell Their Monthly Payouts?, U.S. NEWS & WORLD REP., Jan. 25, 1999, at 62; Vanessa O’Connell, Like It Or Lump It: Thriving Industry Buys Insurance From Injured Plaintiffs, WALL ST. J., Feb. 25, 1998, at A1. 28. The term “factoring” was once used as a derogatory term by insurance compa- nies; however, since incorporation into federal law, I.R.C. §5891 (2006), the term has been increasingly used by purchasing company insiders. Telephone Interview with Matt Bracy, General Counsel, Settlement Capital Corp. (Mar. 12, 2009) [hereinafter Bracy Interview].