With legal experience spanning nearly two decades, Bethany Palmer Recht is an attorney who has served as a partner with the Cincinnati-based corporate law firm Keating Muething & Klekamp PLL since 2010. In her role with the firm, Bethany Recht advises clients on different aspects of trust and fund administration and represents trustees of settlement trusts and qualified settlement funds (QSF).

A QSF, also known as a 468B Trust, is a valuable settlement instrument that provides more time to properly handle mass tort lawsuits and other matters with multiple claimants. The defendant contributes to the trust account in exchange for a complete release of all claims. The defendant is entitled to an instant tax deduction for the payment in addition to the discharge of responsibility. As a result, claimants get the time they need to get a comprehensive settlement consultation and evaluate their best settlement choices in the meanwhile.

An administrator, a trustee, and a court order are all required to set up a QSF. As part of their participation, the majority of administrative professionals will look for court clearance. An escrow or trust arrangement is established with a professional fund administrator by the law firm of record. The settlement agreement lays the groundwork for the litigants to understand their respective duties.

Defendants will often want a statement indicating their transferor payment is qualified and so deductible, as well as that they are entirely freed from all claims filed against them, including any claims arising from the QSF’s formation. They pay the agreed-upon sum into the fund after the QSF is created, and their role stops there. The plaintiffs are then assisted by an impartial trustee or administrator in developing a thorough settlement plan. The trustee or administrator is now in charge of the funds and claim resolution.

The recipient of a JD from Northwestern University School of Law, Bethany Recht serves as a partner at Keating Muething & Klekamp PLL, where she helps clients with various legal issues. Before joining the Cincinnati-based law firm, Bethany Palmer Recht served as an associate attorney at DLA Piper LLP, representing clients on factual property disputes, problem loan disputes, and fraud claims, including security frauds.

Securities fraud is the case where false or misleading information about a business is broadcasted or crucial facts are concealed. The stock price of a firm may be inflated as a result of these misrepresentations. In addition, when the truth about the company is finally disclosed, investors who acquired shares based on misleading information may be harmed.

For a company to function properly and maintain good relationships with investors, accurate information is required. An investor who bases their decisions on incomplete, inaccurate, or downright incorrect information may purchase, hold, or sell stocks or stock options differently than accurate information was known. As a result, due to no fault of their own, fraud leads investors to lose money on their investments. These investors may have a securities fraud claim.

Bethany Palmer Recht is an established presence in the Cincinnati legal community who serves as partner with Keating Muething & Klekamp PLL (KMK Law). In her work as an attorney, Bethany Recht is part of a team that provides services in areas such as qualified settlement funds (QSFs) and mass tort settlement trusts.

These claim resolution entities require careful organization and oversight, with administration involving claim processing, settlement, and distribution, as well as dispute resolution. Trust liability is a major issue, with advisory services ensuring that the plan of reorganization that generated the trust is in compliance with statutes such as the Bankruptcy Code’s section 524(g). Another aspect of the process centers on corporate reorganization tax matters and complex QSF status issues that arise within the tax handling of claims processing entities functioning as a cooperative.

The roots of these services within KMK’s MTI Group extend two decades, to the formation of the Eagle Picher Industries Personal Injury Settlement Trust. This represented the first ever US-established section 524(g) asbestos settlement trust. Since 1998, KMK has additionally acted as general counsel for the Celotex Asbestos Settlement Trust. Under KMK advisory, this trust was created at the end of the Celotex Corporation and Carey Canada, Inc. bankruptcy though funding of $1.5 billion. This included debtors’ common stock, insurance assets, and a significant stake in a Fortune 500 company.

Practicing in Cincinnati, Bethany Palmer Recht is an attorney with Keating Muething & Klekamp PLL (KMK Law) and focuses on areas such as trust administration. Bethany Recht’s additional responsibilities include serving as chair of the firm’s Diversity and Inclusion Committee.

As reported on the KMK Law website in August 2021, the SEC has approved new board diversity rules for Nasdaq-listed companies. Updated guidance requires that any business listed on Nasdaq must maintain (or explain why it does not maintain) two or more diverse directors. One of these must self-identify as LGBTQ+ or other underrepresented group, and another must be female.

At the same time, companies must now disclose statistics on board diversity each year through a board diversity matrix. As part of the process of identifying diverse directors, the SEC has provided its listed firms with no-cost access to board recruiting services.

Compliance is required of a majority of companies within two years of the August 2021 SEC approval date. One diverse director must be in place by August 7, 2023, while two diverse directors must be on board by August 6, 2026 (or the date on which the business files its annual meeting proxy statement for that year).

A former associate of DLA Piper, Bethany Recht is an attorney and partner at Keating Muething & Klekamp PLL. She oversees real property disputes, breaches of contracts, and fraud claims and is also the chair of the diversity committee at her firm. Bethany Recht has also served clients in copyright lawsuits.

Copyright is a form of intellectual property. The law states that the original work of a creator or author cannot be copied or used without the author’s permission. The copyright law protects authors and creators in architecture, design, writings, and sound recordings.

The only person that can sell or reproduce a creation under copyright law is the author. If another person uses to their own advantage the original work of someone else, they commit a copyright infringement. In the United States, a creation is protected through copyright for the whole life of the author and 70 more years.

On one hand, the law only forbids a person from copying an author’s work and not ideas. Therefore, ideas can be taken from the work. Creations can be used without any committed copyright infringements if used for news, criticism, teaching, or research.