Real Estate Issues Tops List of PPD's Legal Services Requests for First Half of 2010
July 22 2010 - 7:02AM
PR Newswire (Canada)
ADA, Okla., July 22 /CNW/ -- Real estate-related issues was the
leading legal service request among members (customers) of Pre-Paid
Legal Services, Inc. (NYSE: PPD) during the first half of 2010
followed by 2) consumer finance, 3) family law, 4) collections and
5) estate planning. The top five legal service requests for the
first six-months of the year is based on the total volume of
approximately 1.1 million member requests for legal services to the
40 independent provider law firms that assist Pre-Paid Legal
members throughout the U.S. and four provinces of Canada. "The top
legal service requests from Pre-Paid Legal Services members for the
first half of 2010 are the same as for the entire year in 2009,"
said Pre-Paid Legal's Founder and Chairman of the Board Harland C.
Stonecipher. "Our members continue to access a variety of legal
services in response to life issues brought on by a weak economy
and high unemployment. Looking down the list, from houses (real
estate) to credit cards (consumer finance) to kids (family law),
the economy's domino effect is all too apparent," Stonecipher said.
Of the total requests for legal services, the top five list
accounts for 47 percent, or approximately 533,000 of the total
legal service requests since January 1 of this year. The remaining
597,000 requests were for a variety of other legal services, such
as traffic-related matters, employment issues, criminal violations,
bankruptcy and business issues. By category, the top five legal
service requests include: Real Estate, Landlord/Tenant Issues,
Foreclosure and Loan Modification - Approximately 174,400 requests,
or 15 percent of the total requests, were for issues that include
residential and commercial real estate transactions,
landlord/tenant disputes and legal counsel related to foreclosure,
short sales and loan modifications Consumer Finance - Approximately
103,400 requests, or 9 percent of the total requests, were for
issues related to retail transactions for warranties, guarantees
and other contracts Family Law - Approximately 97,700 requests, or
9 percent of the total requests, were for legal services related to
divorce, child support, child custody and child visitation
Collections - Approximately 79,000 requests, or 7 percent of the
total requests, were for debt issues, including member support
against other parties and member defense against third-party debt
collectors Estate Planning - Approximately 78,000 requests, or 7
percent of the total requests, were for services that include
preparation of wills and other counsel related to final estates
Robert W. LoPresti, a partner with Los Angeles-based Parker
Stanbury, LLP (http://www.parkstan.com) says it is no surprise that
real estate issues tops the list of legal services requests both
nationally and for the State of California. "When the real estate
bubble burst, it created an outpouring of requests for legal
services related to foreclosure, loan modification and landlord
tenant issues," LoPresti said. "In the first six months of this
year, Parker Stanbury has responded to an estimated 240,000
requests for legal services from Pre-Paid Legal members, and more
than 50,000 of these requests concerned real estate issues," he
said. Parker Stanbury, LLP has provided legal services to PPD
members in the California market for the past 14 years. Richard A.
Campbell, a partner with Atlanta-based Deming, Parker, Hoffman,
Campbell & Daly, LLC (http://www.deminglaw.com/index.html),
says that many of the legal issues found on the top five list are
interconnected. "Each of these legal issues begins and ends with
money," Campbell said. "Whether it's foreclosure, bankruptcy,
consumer debt or family law, it's about money and often the amount
is significant. Considering the high cost of traditional legal
services, it's not surprising that people often delay in dealing
with these matters. By waiting to obtain quality legal advice, the
problems don't go away. They only grow larger," he said. Deming,
Parker, Hoffman, Campbell & Daly, LLC, has been Pre-Paid
Legal's Georgia provider law firm since 1990. 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 PPD's "Provider Law Firm Network System." 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 16 through 19 of our 2009 Form 10-K and pages
7 and 8 of our June 30, 2010 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. George Snyder of
Pre-Paid Legal Services, Inc., desk, +1-580-421-6339, cell,
+1-580-310-4067, georgesnyder@pplsi.com Web Site:
http://www.prepaidlegal.com
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