February 11, 2012

Wilbanks v. Wolk

NOTE: The information and commentary contained in this database entry are based on court filings and other informational sources that may contain unproven allegations made by the parties. The truthfulness and accuracy of such information is likely to be in dispute. Information contained in this entry is current as of the last event mentioned in the "Description" section below; additional proceedings might have taken place in this matter since this event.

Posted September 22nd, 2008 by CMLP Staff

Summary

Threat Type: Lawsuit	Date: 07/05/2001
Status: Concluded	Location: California
Disposition: Settled (total)	Verdict/Settlement Amount: n/a
Legal Claims: Defamation; Unfair Competition
Scott Wilbanks, a viatical settlement broker, filed a defamation and unfair business practices lawsuit against Gloria Wolk, a former insurance agent and author of books on viatical settlements (viaticals are arrangements that allow dying persons with life insurance policies to sell their... read full description

Parties

Party Issuing Legal Threat:	Party Receiving Legal Threat:
Scott Wilbanks; Wilbanks & Associates, Inc.	Gloria Wolk (dba Bialkin Books)
Type of Party:	Type of Party:
Individual; Organization	Individual
Location of Party:	Location of Party:
California	California
Legal Counsel:	Legal Counsel:
Steven Ames Brown	Philip R. Green (Law Offices of Green & Green); Wendy M. Lazerson (Holland & Knight); Thomas A. Trapani (Rankin Sproat & Pollack)

Description

Scott Wilbanks, a viatical settlement broker, filed a defamation and unfair business practices lawsuit against Gloria Wolk, a former insurance agent and author of books on viatical settlements (viaticals are arrangements that allow dying persons with life insurance policies to sell their policies to investors for a percentage of the death benefits).

According to Wilbanks's complaint, Wolk defamed him and his company on her website Viatical & Life Settlements Consumer Information, which provides information about settlement brokers, by publishing the following statements:

Be very careful when dealing with this broker. Wilbanks and Assoc. is under investigation by the CA dept. of insurance. The complaint originated with a California viator who won a judgment against Wilbanks. How many others have been injured but didn’t have the strength to do anything about it?
The company is under investigation. Stay tuned for details.
Wilbanks and Associates provided incompetent advice.
Wilbanks and Associates is unethical.

Wolk moved to strike the defamation claim under California's anti-SLAPP statute. The court granted her motion and awarded Wolk $7,000 in attorney fees and costs.

On August 17, 2004, the California Court of Appeals reversed, finding that Wilbanks had shown a reasonable probability of success on the merits of his claims.

Update:

The California Superior Court's electronic docket states that the case was dismissed with prejudice on August 18, 2005, following settlement discussions in chambers.

Wilbanks Defrauded the Court--with help from Def. Attys

Submitted by fraudbuster on Fri, 12/02/2011 - 17:21.

The truth was not presented to any court until Wolk sued attorney Phil Greene for malpractice in federal court in San Francisco. Then exhibits never before introduced included the actual pages from Wolk's website (saved at archive.org). That proved Wilbanks created phrases that never appeared on her website.

Had any attorney ever handled this correctly, it would have been over within months, instead of years. Right from the start, it was a farce. Wilbanks included as co-defendant the web host provider, who is protected under federal law. The reason, never challenged, was to force Wolk to litigate in his home county. He took a default against the web host service.

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Wilbanks v. Wolk

Wilbanks Defrauded the Court--with help from Def. Attys

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Wilbanks v. Wolk

Wilbanks Defrauded the Court--with help from Def. Attys

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