ATTORNEY NEWSLETTER  What Duty Does An Agent Owe You? Putting You First We at Evans Law Firm litigate the question of an insurance agent’s duty to his clients, particularly when it comes to life insurance and/or annuities. We have written on the subject in this column.  As life insurance and […]

ATTORNEY NEWSLETTER Beware Annuity Sales Hype Always Think About Taxes Incomplete information may be worse than none at all, particularly when it comes to annuities and taxes. Tax deferral is a key component of sound retirement planning.  Insurance agents push annuities as the best tool for that deferral.  There may […]

ATTORNEY NEWSLETTER The High Cost of Surrender Charges If you are over age 60, live in San Francisco or anywhere else in California, and have fully or partially surrendered a deferred annuity, you may have paid a surrender charge also called a surrender penalty or withdrawal charge. California law has […]

ATTORNEY NEWSLETTER Caterpillar’s Massive Tax Avoidance Headache The Story Of A Determined Whistleblower The largest Internal Revenue Service (IRS) whistleblower case of all time has been going on for years against one of the best known names in American industry – Caterpillar. The Evans Law Firm is not involved in […]

ATTORNEY NEWSLETTER Elder Abuse in Nursing Homes  Resident Dumping California public interest groups are fighting a disturbing trend in nursing homes sending Medi-Cal patients to hospitals and then refusing to allow them to return. This practice is known as “resident dumping.”  Marin County and California nursing home abuse attorneys at […]

ATTORNEY NEWSLETTER Elder Abuse in Nursing Homes Medication Concerns The nursing home abuse attorneys at Evans Law Firm Inc. often write in this column about the sad reality of nursing home abuse in Alameda County and throughout California. A recent CNN story uncovered the increased rates at which a particular […]

ATTORNEY NEWSLETTER FINRA Cracking Down on Faulty Annuity Replacements Cracking Down on Exploitation The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) is looking closely at brokers who churn their clients’ variable annuities. Recently, FINRA announced disciplinary measures against two brokers who churned client annuities.  The churns (or replacements) resulted in heavy surrender […]

ATTORNEY NEWSLETTER RiverSource Life Insurance Company Deferred Annuities The annuity attorneys at Evans Law Firm Inc. represent clients who have suffered losses on all types of annuity contracts, including fixed, indexed, and variable deferred annuities. These contracts charge sales commissions, rider fees and other benefit charges, and penalties on full […]

ATTORNEY NEWSLETTER Complaints Over Hybrid Annuities What Are Hybrid Annuities? Hybrid annuities, often called buffer variable annuities or structured variable annuities, are complicated combinations of fixed and variable deferred annuities. Equity-indexed or Fixed-indexed annuities are also hybrid annuities.  Agents and issuers sell hybrids as “buffers” against market downturns with higher caps […]

ATTORNEY NEWSLETTER Rehabilitation Services Company Settles Whistleblower Case for $6 Million False Claims Act Suit Whistleblower/qui tam cases brought under the federal False Claims Act (FCA) often involve false claims for payment under government programs like Medicare and Medicaid. In a recent settlement announced by the Department of Justice, a […]