Justice Department ends practice of using settlements to fund outside groups

[Calista241]

Source: The Hill

The Justice Department will end an Obama-era practice of allowing settlements won in federal legal cases to be donated to community organizations or other third-party groups, declaring that settlements must now be directed towards those directly harmed by wrongdoing, according to a memo obtained by Reuters.

The Justice Department's policy on settlements was a hallmark of the legal proceedings following the U.S. housing market collapse. From 2013 to 2016, the Obama Justice Department directed $46 billion in settlements to outside groups that focused on housing aid and other issues.

The move from Attorney General Jeff Sessions is the latest in the Trump administration's efforts to undo Obama-era policies long criticized by conservatives.

"In recent years the Department of Justice has sometimes required or encouraged defendants to make these payments to third parties as a condition of settlement," Sessions said in a statement. "We are ending this practice and ensuring that settlement funds are only used to compensate victims, redress harm, and punish and deter unlawful conduct."

Read more: http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/336701-justice-department-ends-practice-of-using-settlements-to-fund-outside

[Eugene]

1. We can't have the government work to help people, can we?

/sarc

[The Mouth]

2. bookmarking

Need to study this more. Not sure if it is a bad thing to require than any settlements be paid to the injured parties and only to the injured parties, but need to see the details. But the fact that this is coming from Sessions makes me think there is more to it than what appears.

[Yupster]

3. Seems like a good idea

Let's say a brokerage firm has to pay a $ 10 million fine for not disclosing something.

Would it be okay for Sessions to say rather than paying the victims, pay the money to the Right To Life Committee?

[The Mouth]

4. Yeah, something like that.

We have to be wary of giving the government power when we have good leaders like President Obama that we don't want it to have when sewage like Twitler are in the oval office.