Nevada structured settlement
My sister has permanent cognitive deficiencies, among other problems, from medical malpractice injuries sustained in a hospital. She received a settlement that her attorney at the time made arrangements to have placed in a structured settlement. She constantly receives calls and letters from companies offering to give her a lump sum to buy out her settlement. She was experiencing financial difficulties because of a number of medical problems and repairs needed on her home so she entertained the idea of selling a portion of her annuity.
At this point I need to explain her disability a bit more. She was overdosed with an ototoxic drug, which permanently damaged her inner ears and the nerves that send balance and hearing information from the inner ear to the brain. Her hearing has remained mostly in tact, but she no longer has a balance system. It is commonly descried as a sensation of being on a ship rolling in the ocean and never being able to find the horizon to determine how to get yourself level. Because she, or anyone with this type of disability is always fighting to find balance it is difficult to focus on conversations, reading, or anything else taking place around them. She is easily overwhelmed by any additional stimulation, becomes tired to the point of exhaustion from a short trip to the grocery store, and attempting to follow a lengthy document is nearly impossible. Everything must be broken down into small pieces that can be handled a few minutes at a time and allow breaks that could last for hours or even a day or more to rest and recover in between tasks. My sister is very intelligent and educated, but she can come across as ditsy and inarticulate now because of her disability. She has retained most of her mental faculties, but when she is tired, rushed, or standing on her feet (because she is trying to balance and think at the same time this is the worst thing for her to do if she is trying to have a conversation) her disability is accentuated and she is easy to exploit. Now, because of her disability she rarely leaves her home. It takes too much effort to go out. She says home and has become a recluse with few friends making it easy to become a target for a scam artist.
What has happened is that a young man from one of these companies that offers to pay a lump sum for structured settlements befriended my sister. She was lonely and felt that she needed to prove to her family that she could still make some contribution to society by making money. At first she wanted money to fix things at home, get a new car, and take care of medical problems. She was considering selling part of her annuity to take care of those issues. Then this guy befriended her and got her to fly from Nevada to Florida to work on the deal. She refused to sign the papers in Florida and came home where they sent someone to the house to get her to sign and she still refused. Then the guy told her not to sign because he could get her a better deal.
At this point he started flying to Nevada on his own and coming to the house to do work for her. He eventually got her to sell part of the annuity using another company that belonged to a friend of his and to use part of the money to invest in a business that he and my sister were going to do together. The transaction to sell the annuity took place in Nevada. There is an error in the documents that were signed transferring the annuity. My sister has no income. The settlement was for loss of enjoyment of life. She is not able to work. The documents for the annuity transfer state that her home is paid off, which is not correct. The attorney representing the woman that purchased the annuity asked my sister if her home was paid off and my sister told her it was not. The attorney told her that the documents my sister had signed before the notary were incorrect. My sister explained that the documents had been read to her because she had an eye infection and was unable to read them herself, and that section was not mentioned. She had been convinced to sell the annuity by the guy from Florida who had become her new best friend when he started coming to the house and doing a lot of work to remodel the interior, though she paid for everything with the money from the annuity that had been sold. At some point the guy went back to work for the company he had initially worked for when my sister first met him. We do not know where he is now. His girlfriend is from out of the country and he frequently travels to see her.
This is a very condensed version that leaves out the majority of the details of the story to keep it short. I am trying to determine where to start in filing charges and trying to recover money for my sister.
1. She has some form of diminished capacity though I am not sure if it would meet any legal standard, I think it should because she can so easily be deceived when she is tired, standing, or stressed/pushed to the point of feeling uncomfortable.
2. Criminal liability falls on the guy that befriended my sister. It is possible that his friend that runs the other annuity company and his girlfriend are conspirators. Is his employer liable? If so, in what ways?
3. Would jurisdiction remain with Nevada since my sister lives here? She sent money to him in multiple locations, she traveled to Florida to visit the company, the woman who purchased her annuity was from Texas, and the settlement company that performed the transaction was in Maryland.
4. Where do we start in fixing this? Is there anything I have missed asking? She will have no money to live on beginning two years from now, so I hope to be able to recover something.
Thank you in advance for your suggestions.
My sister has permanent cognitive deficiencies, among other problems, from medical malpractice injuries sustained in a hospital. She received a settlement that her attorney at the time made arrangements to have placed in a structured settlement. She constantly receives calls and letters from companies offering to give her a lump sum to buy out her settlement. She was experiencing financial difficulties because of a number of medical problems and repairs needed on her home so she entertained the idea of selling a portion of her annuity.
At this point I need to explain her disability a bit more. She was overdosed with an ototoxic drug, which permanently damaged her inner ears and the nerves that send balance and hearing information from the inner ear to the brain. Her hearing has remained mostly in tact, but she no longer has a balance system. It is commonly descried as a sensation of being on a ship rolling in the ocean and never being able to find the horizon to determine how to get yourself level. Because she, or anyone with this type of disability is always fighting to find balance it is difficult to focus on conversations, reading, or anything else taking place around them. She is easily overwhelmed by any additional stimulation, becomes tired to the point of exhaustion from a short trip to the grocery store, and attempting to follow a lengthy document is nearly impossible. Everything must be broken down into small pieces that can be handled a few minutes at a time and allow breaks that could last for hours or even a day or more to rest and recover in between tasks. My sister is very intelligent and educated, but she can come across as ditsy and inarticulate now because of her disability. She has retained most of her mental faculties, but when she is tired, rushed, or standing on her feet (because she is trying to balance and think at the same time this is the worst thing for her to do if she is trying to have a conversation) her disability is accentuated and she is easy to exploit. Now, because of her disability she rarely leaves her home. It takes too much effort to go out. She says home and has become a recluse with few friends making it easy to become a target for a scam artist.
What has happened is that a young man from one of these companies that offers to pay a lump sum for structured settlements befriended my sister. She was lonely and felt that she needed to prove to her family that she could still make some contribution to society by making money. At first she wanted money to fix things at home, get a new car, and take care of medical problems. She was considering selling part of her annuity to take care of those issues. Then this guy befriended her and got her to fly from Nevada to Florida to work on the deal. She refused to sign the papers in Florida and came home where they sent someone to the house to get her to sign and she still refused. Then the guy told her not to sign because he could get her a better deal.
At this point he started flying to Nevada on his own and coming to the house to do work for her. He eventually got her to sell part of the annuity using another company that belonged to a friend of his and to use part of the money to invest in a business that he and my sister were going to do together. The transaction to sell the annuity took place in Nevada. There is an error in the documents that were signed transferring the annuity. My sister has no income. The settlement was for loss of enjoyment of life. She is not able to work. The documents for the annuity transfer state that her home is paid off, which is not correct. The attorney representing the woman that purchased the annuity asked my sister if her home was paid off and my sister told her it was not. The attorney told her that the documents my sister had signed before the notary were incorrect. My sister explained that the documents had been read to her because she had an eye infection and was unable to read them herself, and that section was not mentioned. She had been convinced to sell the annuity by the guy from Florida who had become her new best friend when he started coming to the house and doing a lot of work to remodel the interior, though she paid for everything with the money from the annuity that had been sold. At some point the guy went back to work for the company he had initially worked for when my sister first met him. We do not know where he is now. His girlfriend is from out of the country and he frequently travels to see her.
This is a very condensed version that leaves out the majority of the details of the story to keep it short. I am trying to determine where to start in filing charges and trying to recover money for my sister.
1. She has some form of diminished capacity though I am not sure if it would meet any legal standard, I think it should because she can so easily be deceived when she is tired, standing, or stressed/pushed to the point of feeling uncomfortable.
2. Criminal liability falls on the guy that befriended my sister. It is possible that his friend that runs the other annuity company and his girlfriend are conspirators. Is his employer liable? If so, in what ways?
3. Would jurisdiction remain with Nevada since my sister lives here? She sent money to him in multiple locations, she traveled to Florida to visit the company, the woman who purchased her annuity was from Texas, and the settlement company that performed the transaction was in Maryland.
4. Where do we start in fixing this? Is there anything I have missed asking? She will have no money to live on beginning two years from now, so I hope to be able to recover something.
Thank you in advance for your suggestions.
Life Insurance: Structured Settlement Stolen Under False Pretenses from Person W/Cognitive Deficiency
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