Milestone Consulting Advocates for Families of 1983 Beirut Terrorist Attack Victims

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Aug 19, 2016, 10:07 ET

BUFFALO, N.Y., Aug. 19, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Milestone Consulting, LLC ("Milestone"), a settlement planning and management firm located in Buffalo, NY, received approval from the New York State Department of Financial Services to implement a plan that will permit an insurance company or its authorized representative to waive commissions connected to the life insurance policy or annuity contract issued to the immediate family of terrorist attack victims. The approved plan will allow Milestone, who places structured settlements with the insurance companies New York Life, Metropolitan Life, Liberty Life of Boston, Prudential, Pacific Life and Annuity, USAA, Massachusetts Mutual, Mutual of Omaha, and First Berkshire Hathaway, to request the waiver of commissions, which it currently intends to use to donate to Beirut Veterans of America (www.beirutveterans.org).

John Bair, founder of Milestone, wrote the plan specifically considering the victims and family members affected by the 1983 Marine barracks bombing in Beirut. On April 20, 2016, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled for the victims' families in Bank Markazi v. Peterson, holding that frozen assets of Iran's Central Bank, held at Citibank, could be used to pay compensation to the victims' families. On June 6, 2016, in Peterson v. Islamic Republic of Iran, United States District Judge Katherine Forrest ordered the distribution of $1.8 billion in Iranian funds to the victims' families, marking one of the largest foreign state recoveries due to terrorism since the 1988 Lockerbie bombing, in which Libya offered up to $2.7 billion in settlement claims.

Previously, in 2003, John successfully lobbied Senator John A. DeFrancisco to pass a law that allowed for the creation of pro bono structured settlements in connection with the September 11th Victims Compensation Fund. In 2013, John also lobbied Senator Timothy M. Kennedy of Buffalo to assist in amending the original law from 2003, to expand the scope of "terrorism" to apply to all acts of terrorism, so as to include the families of the Marines in the Bank Markazi litigation.

Congress adopted special tax rules in 1983 to encourage structured settlements as a way to provide long-term financial security to personal injury victims and their families. These structured settlements, in the form of periodic payments, give its recipients the ability to create tax-exempt earnings on the settlement, and have been widely used in similar recoveries.

CONTACT: Toni Smith, 716-883-1833

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SOURCE Milestone Consulting, LLC