I just read an article about how many people in Baltimore (including recently "bounced to death in a police van" Freddy Gray) received huge settlements (half mil) for being exposed to lead-based paints.
The interesting thrust of the article was about how there are firms that specialize in "cashing in" those settlements for people in a lump sum. That can be as low as $20K for a $500K settlement. And people TAKE those sort of deals.
One law firm is now claiming if they were so addled by lead paint, they couldn't enter into those contracts with competence. I would have to agree: taking $20K when you'd be entitled to lifetime annuity payments totalling $500K pretty much shows defacto incompetence.
formatting link