Justice Larry Schachner
Defendant 1279 Morris LLC moved to compel Cabrera to provide an authorization for his Law Cash records. In seeking such authorization 1279′s counsel argued the subject loan affects the potential disposition of the case, including possibly affecting any settlement or verdict. However, the court disagreed with such contention. It stated that in seeking such information, counsel "embarked on a fishing expedition." The court stated the material sought was neither material nor necessary to the defense of this action, noting no appellate case required Cabrera to provide the authorization sought. It stated that while the legislature sought to protect plaintiffs from unscrupulous funding companies under the Structured Settlement Protection Act (SSPA), same involved situations where a payee sought to sell structured settlement payments to a funding company in exchange for a lump sum. However, the court stated the SSPA had nothing to do with the type of loan at issue here, noting the loan was not part of Cabrera’s damages, defendants were not parties to it, nor did they have to satisfy the loan. Hence, it ruled Cabrerea’s Law Cash loan was not relevant to his claims or the defense of this action. Therefore, defendant’s motion was denied.
