Real Estate Issues Tops 2009 List of 2.3 Million Requests for Legal Services

ADA, Okla., Feb. 1 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Real estate-related issues was the leading legal service request among members (customers) of Pre-Paid Legal Services, Inc. (NYSE: PPD) during 2009 followed by 2) consumer finance, 3) family law, 4) collections and 5) estate planning.  The top five legal service requests for 2009 is based on the total volume of 2.3 million member requests for legal services to the 40 independent provider law firms that assisted Pre-Paid Legal members throughout the U.S. and four provinces of Canada for calendar year 2009.

"The PPD legal service request list offers a unique perspective on the legal issues that Americans and Canadians face on a daily basis," said Pre-Paid Legal's Founder and CEO Harland C. Stonecipher.  "Because these members have a Pre-Paid Legal plan, they have access to affordable legal service to help them manage issues such as foreclosure, credit issues, collections and other life events," he said.

Of the total 2009 requests for legal services, the top five requests account for approximately 45 percent or approximately 1.1 million of the total requests.  The remaining 1.2 million requests were for a variety of other legal services such as traffic-related matters, employment issues and civil litigation.  

By category, the top five legal service requests include:

Real Estate, Landlord/Tenant Issues and Foreclosure – Approximately 358,000 requests for legal services that include residential and commercial real estate transactions, landlord and tenant issues and legal counsel related to foreclosure and short sales  

Consumer Finance – Approximately 195,000 requests for legal services related to retail transactions for warranties, guarantees and other contracts    

Family Law – Approximately 193,000 requests for legal services related to divorce, child support, child custody and child visitation

Collections – Approximately 162,000 requests for legal assistance to support members against other parties and to defend members from third-party debt collectors

Estate Planning – Approximately 160,000 requests for legal services for preparation of wills and other counsel related to final estates

Daniel F. Mantzaris, a partner with Orlando, Florida-based deBeaubien, Knight, Simmons, Mantzaris & Neal, LLP (www.dbksmn.com), believes that many individuals who face these common legal issues do not understand the implications of the legal issue nor their options for resolution.

"I can't emphasize enough the value of early involvement by an attorney in legal matters such as those identified in this top five list of service requests," Mantzaris said.   "As provider attorneys, we work with our Pre-Paid Legal members to help them understand their situation and determine the best legal option to address that particular issue."  

deBeaubien, Knight, Simmons, Mantzaris & Neal, LLP has provided legal services to PPD members in the North Florida market for the past 14 years.

Charles E. Davis, Managing Partner and Co-Founder of Mesa, Arizona-based Davis Miles, PLLC (www.davismiles.com), said, "These 2.3 million requests for legal services represent the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the public need for access to affordable, routine legal services."

"Too often, people with common problems like foreclosure, credit or collection issues wait too long to deal with these issues.  A preemptive approach sometimes saves a lot of money and much anguish and heartache," Davis said.

Davis Miles, PLLC has been the PPD's Arizona provider law firm since 2004 and the provider law firm in New Mexico since 2008.

The PPD top five list of legal service plan requests is based on statistical data collected from the provider law firms and shared with PPD.  PPD maintains a rigorous monitoring system and conducts surveys which provide feedback on the customer service experience of PPD members with the provider law firms.  This is one of the distinguishing characteristics of the PPD's legal service plan model.  The average tenure for provider law firms in the PPD network is more than 12 years.

About PPD -- We believe our products are one of a kind, life events legal service plans. Our plans provide for legal service benefits provided through a network of independent law firms across the U.S. and Canada, and include unlimited attorney consultation as well as will preparation, traffic violation defense, automobile-related criminal charges defense, letter writing, document preparation and review and a general trial defense benefit. We have an identity theft restoration product we think is also one of a kind because of the combination of outside vendors and our provider law firms. More information about us and our products can be found at our homepage at http://www.prepaidlegal.com.

Forward-Looking Statements -- Statements in this press release, other than purely historical information, regarding our future plans and objectives and expected operating results, dividends and share repurchases and statements of the assumptions underlying such statements, constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. The forward-looking statements contained herein are based on certain assumptions that may not be correct. They are subject to risks and uncertainties incident to our business that could cause actual results to differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties are described in the reports and statements filed by us with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including (among others) those listed in our Form 10-K, Form 10-Q and Form 8-K, and include the risks that our membership persistency or renewal rates may decline, that we may not be able to continue to grow our memberships and earnings, that we are dependent on the continued active participation of our principal executive officer, that pending or future litigation may have a material adverse effect on us if resolved unfavorably to us, that we may have compromises of our information security, that consumer purchases of discretionary items may be impacted by a downturn in the economy, that we could be adversely affected by regulatory developments, that competition could adversely affect us, that we are substantially dependent on our marketing force, that our stock price may be affected by short sellers, that we have been unable to increase our employee group membership sales, that our active premium in force is not indicative of future revenue as a result of changes in active memberships from cancellations and additional membership sales and that we have repurchased more than half of our outstanding shares. Please refer to pages 18 through 20 of our 2008 Form 10-K/A and pages 7 and 8 of our September 30, 2009 Form 10-Q for a more complete description of these risks. We undertake no duty to update any of the forward looking statements in this release.

SOURCE Pre-Paid Legal Services, Inc.