http://www.indianalawjournal.org en-us N/A admin@indianalawjournal.org Tue, 06 Jan 2009 04:47:24 EST 20 http://www.indianalawjournal.org/articles/29/1/Lies-Damned-Lies-and-Statistics-Structured-Settlements-Factoring-and-the-Federal-Government/Page1.html In 1983, Congress revised the tax code to subsidize tortious defendants who offered claimants settlements via structured payments.  Fearing that victims were carelessly dissipating lump sum awards, Congress justified its actions with anecdotal stories of victims on public assistance and a rather untenable statistic declaring that ninety percent of tort victims squandered their lump sums within five years.  The resulting $6 billion structured settlement industry spawned a zealous factoring market, anxious to give claimants drastically reduced lump sums in exchange for all future structured payments.  In 2001, Congress attempted to restrain the factoring industry via another round of tax revisions.  This Note argues that Congress's latest efforts, rather than protect victims, effectively secure the factoring industry's livelihood; that both tax structures unfairly restrict claimants' contractual freedoms; and that Congress must honestly evaluate its expressed devotion to tort victims in light of this critique. ]]> no@spam.com (Laura J. Koenig) Fri, 05 Oct 2007 15:19:44 EDT http://www.indianalawjournal.org/articles/29/1/Lies-Damned-Lies-and-Statistics-Structured-Settlements-Factoring-and-the-Federal-Government/Page1.html