In the second Barber v. Stanko opinion issued the same day, the Pennsylvania Superior Court again sided with a minor whose father sold $1.5 million in structured settlement funds owed to the son. The minor was involved in a car crash when he was three years old. The crash killed his mother. The Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas approved a $2.7 million structured settlement for the child. But the child’s father then sold $1.5 million of that structured settlement for a fraction of its worth. To do so, the father forum-shopped until he found a court that would approve the payouts. Once the father’s duplicitous behavior was uncovered, the Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas entered an order demanding that all future payments of the structured settlement be paid into a court-controlled account. The companies that purchased the structured settlement funds believed those funds were rightfully theirs and appealed the order creating the court-controlled account. The Superior Court affirmed the lower court’s order creating the account.
