ST. LOUIS (Legal Newsline) – A man who sold part of his structured settlement annuity (SSA) worth more than $400,000 to J.G. Wentworth claims the financial services company took advantage of him and fraudulently advised him to use an attorney who was not "disinterested counsel."
Richard Tarvin III, individually and on behalf of all others similarly situated, filed a complaint Oct. 22 in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri against The J.G. Wentworth Co., 321 Henderson Receivables Limited Partnership and others alleging violation of the Missouri Structured Settlement Act, the Missouri Merchandising Practices Act and fraudulent misrepresentation.
On May 5, 2005, Tarvin, who was an SSA beneficiary due to brain injuries he suffered as a minor, received $300,000 from J.G. Wentworth "in exchange for a scheduled portion of his annuity payments totaling $570,575.75," according to the suit.
"The present value of Mr. Tarvin’s annuity was $449,222.62 at the time of the transaction in 2005," the suit states.
He claims the defendant's "unfair, deceptive and fraudulent conduct" caused "Missouri consumers to not receive the necessary legal advice of disinterested counsel when evaluating offers to purchase structured settlement payments, and subsequently obtain less than the fair value of their settlement to the benefit of Wentworth."
Tarvin seeks monetary relief and damages, trial by jury and other just relief. He is represented by Thomas SanFilippo of The Law Firm of Thomas SanFilippo & Associates LLC in St. Louis and Richard Burke, Jamie Weiss and Zachary Jacobs of Quantum Legal LLC in Highland Park, Illinois.
U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri case number 4:19-cv-02860-SRC