Lucrative Opportunity Raise Money for Mass Torts
Lucrative Opportunity Raise Money for Mass Torts
We seek part-time or full-time sales executives who can raise money from wealthy individuals (only accredited investors or higher) , hedge funds, family offices, or other types of investors. Your earning potential is exceptionally high. Our need is immediate.
Please note this is a commission-only position. If you cannot afford that, please do not apply.
Some readers of this ad might be concerned that they do not have a particular SEC license. Our attorneys have advised us that there are legal ways to structure our relationship so that you do not need to obtain SEC licenses, such as being an employee of the company and limiting your role to being a finder rather than a broker.
1. About Us
Paragon Analytics LLC makes money by processing mass tort legal cases, such as Roundup causing non-hodgkin’s lymphoma. We primarily pursue case types which are in settlement mode, thus substantially reducing risk. We have developed proprietary, world class AI and data mining techniques to identify prospects who have viable claims, and thus our Case Acquisition Costs (“CAC”) are $300 per valid case, as compared with $5,250 for a Roundup case or more than $100,000 (!) for a mesothelioma case.
Our management team includes individuals who have co-founded a successful mass tort law firm (“MTLF”); an attorney who has negotiated the settlement of numerous mass tort case types with settlements substantially in excess of what most law firms achieved; a data scientist who studied statistics and data mining as a graduate student at Harvard University; a medical coding professional with over 20 years of experience and four medical coding certifications; and an information technology professional who has spoken at national conferences and has co-authored two technical books published by Microsoft Press.
A Mass Torts
2. Mass Torts
“Mass torts” are product liability claims against pharmaceutical, medical device, and toxic substance manufacturers. We only bring claims against exceptionally large and profitable product manufacturers, and never against individuals, physicians, or hospitals. (When Willie Sutton was asked why he robbed banks, he replied “Because that's where the money is.”)
We focus primarily on case types that are in “settlement mode” – i.e., the defendant/manufacturer has suffered so many adverse verdicts that it has decided to throw in the towel and has set aside several billion dollars – or in the case of Monsanto and J&J, more than $10 billion each – to settle those claims. Currently we are pursuing five case types: Roundup, mesothelioma, hernia mesh, sexual abuse, and NEC infant formula cases.
3. Our Business Strategy
There are three elements to our business strategy:
“Come Late to the Party” – We focus on case types where the manufacturer has decided to settle.
Sign up a Diversified Portfolio of Case Types – We diversify the case types we sign up cases for.
Utilize a Vastly Superior Method of Generating Cases – Many MTLFs have lost money by choosing lead brokers who delivered bad leads. As noted in Section 9, we have several methods of determining up front if a case is valid, so we do not have this problem.
4. The Attraction of Mass Torts
We are attracted to the mass tort business for several reasons:
The business is quite lucrative. Done the conventional way – i.e., obtaining cases through traditional marketing channels – operating margins exceed 80 percent.
With our AI and data mining techniques (see Section 9), our operating margins exceed 95 percent. (!)
Remarkably little law is involved in processing mass tort settlements. The fewer lawyers we have working for us, the happier we are – attorneys are expensive and they're a pain in the neck to manage. To us, the best law firm has no lawyers.
Processing mass tort cases for settlement lends itself to systemization of processes and computerization, something we are quite good at.
After a prospect has signed a Client Engagement Agreement, we can turn the case over to a legal process outsourcing (“LPO”) firm which will process the case through settlement and collection and disbursement of funds. Such firms are willing to defer their fees until the case turns into money.
If we follow the three key business strategies listed in Section 3, the risk is exceptionally low relative to return.
5. Why Investors Like Mass Torts
Thirty years ago, almost all of the “smart money” knew nothing about mass torts. Thirty years later, it would be unusual for a sophisticated investor to not be at least familiar with this asset class. The smart money is interested for several reasons:
High returns relative to risk
No need for an “exit” to achieve liquidity, as liquidity is achieved through settlements
Uncorrelated returns
Economies of scale Consolidating claims reduces per-case costs and increases efficiency, making the overall litigation more profitable.
Recurring opportunities As new mass torts emerge (pharmaceuticals, environmental disasters, defective products), investors can continually reinvest in fresh cases.
6. Historical Case Types
Listed below are several historical mass tort case types – i.e., in the past they were “hot” but are no longer suitable for new cases – and the fees per case that they generated. In order to be conservative, attorneys' fees are calculated based on a one-third contingency fee, even though most MTLFs (including us) charge 40 percent.
Actos
Diabetes drug that causes bladder cancer
Defendant / Manufacturer: Takeda Pharmaceutical
Total value of 2015 settlement $2.3 billion
Average settlement value $175,000
Average attorneys’ fees $61,250
Avandia
Diabetes drug which caused heart attacks, heart failure and death
Defendant / Manufacturer: GlaxoSmithKline
Average settlement value $266,000
Average attorneys’ fees $88,880
DePuy Artificial Hips
Defective artificial hip
Defendant / Manufacturer: Johnson & Johnson
Total settlement in 2013 $4 billion
Average settlement value $182,000
Average attorneys’ fees $63,700
Drug Eluting Stents
Used to treat coronary artery disease. They are designed to release drugs that prevent the arteries from becoming blocked again after the stent is implanted. These stents can cause blood clots and subsequent heart attacks.
Average settlement value $300,000
Average attorneys’ fees $100,000
Fen-Phen
Anti-obesity drug that caused fatal pulmonary hypertension and heart valve problems
Manufacturer / Defendant: Wyeth
Total value of 1999 settlement $3.75 billion
Average settlement $150,000
Average attorneys’ fees $52,500
Praxada
Blood thinner which causes excessive bleeding
Defendant / Manufacturer: Boehringer Ingelheim
Total settlement in 2014 $650 million
Average settlement value $182,000
Average attorneys’ fees $63,700
Rezulin
Diabetes drug that causes hepatitis
Defendant / Manufacturer: Parker-Davis
Total value of 2002 settlement $995 million
Average settlement value $150,000
Average attorneys’ fees $52,500
Sulzer Defective Hip Implants
Defective artificial hip
Manufacturer / Defendant: Sulzer Orthopedics
Total value of 2002 settlement $1 billion
Average settlement value $147,000
Average attorneys’ fees $51,450
Vioxx
Caused heart attacks in men
Defendant / Manufacturer: Merck
Total value of 2007 settlement $4.85 billion
Average settlement value $225,000
Average attorneys’ fees $78,750
Yaz / Yasmin
Birth control bill that caused blood clots in women
Defendant / Manufacturer: Bayer
Total settlement value in 2012 – More than $3.2 billion
Average attorneys’ fees $73,500
7. Case Types We Are Interested In
As noted in Section 3, we focus on settled case types. Currently there are the five case types we are interested in pursuing:
A. Sexual Abuse
Many sexual abuse cases are quite horrific e.g., young children being abused by adults who have some level of authority and control over them. In some cases, the defendant organization (who is legally responsible for the misconduct of their employees) is highly desirous of avoiding unfavorable publicity and sometimes a $1,000,000+ settlement can be reached fairly quickly. In cases requiring litigation, we would co-counsel with a powerhouse law firm with a track record of litigating these types of cases.
B. Roundup
Roundup was a herbicide manufactured by Monsanto, a company that was acquired by Bayer in 2018 for $63 billion. It was by far the most popular herbicide on the U.S. market, with over 75 percent market share. In 2023, Monsanto discontinued selling Roundup. The key ingredient of Roundup was glyphosate, a chemical that the International Agency of Research on Cancer has classified glyphosate as "possibly carcinogenic to humans." Specifically, individuals exposed to Roundup over several years run a significant risk of contracting non-Hodgkin lymphoma.
As of October 2023, Monsanto has reached an approximately $11 billion settlement with most plaintiffs, and approximately 80 percent of Roundup claims have been settled. Given the long latency period of non-Hodgkin lymphoma, Roundup will be a viable case type for at least the next decade.
C. Mesothelioma
Mesothelioma is a form of cancer that is caused by the inhalation of asbestos fibers, and unfortunately is in most cases fatal. In addition to mesothelioma, inhalation of such fibers can cause bronchitis, asbestosis, lung cancer, and cancers of the digestive tract (esophagus, stomach, intestines, and the rectum).
When mesothelioma lawsuits first started to be filed, the most obvious defendants were the large manufacturers of asbestos, such as Johns Manville Corp., Owens Corning Corp., and W.R. Grace & Co. The verdicts against these corporations became so large and frequent that these companies (and several dozen other companies) filed for bankruptcy protection. Pursuant to bankruptcy code section 524(g), these companies turned over most or all of their assets to a newly-created bankruptcy trust. Such trusts are administered by a court-appointed trustee whose job it is to write checks, assuming the claim is valid. Currently there are approximately 60 such trusts with total assets in excess $30 billion.
D. Hernia Mesh
A hernia is a medical condition that is caused by the penetration of fatty tissue, intestine, or organs through a weakened or compromised location in muscle or connective tissue. Hernias sometimes manifest as visibly observable protrusions or badges, and can cause pain, discomfort, and decreased mobility.
Hernias can be treated surgically, and hernia repairs are common surgeries. To strengthen the repair, surgeons sometimes introduce to the hernia site a surgical mesh, many types of which are intended to remain in the body permanently. Several complications are associated with the use of hernia mesh in hernia repairs, such as pain, infection, recurrence, adhesion, obstruction and perforation.
For hernia mesh cases, we focus exclusively on revision cases, cases where a second surgery was required to repair, modify or remove the mesh that was implanted in the first surgery. There are four active forums where different types of hernia mesh cases are centralized, and each of these manufacturers/defendants has their own settlement protocol. Hernia mesh cases can often be quite valuable.
E. Necrotizing Enterocolitis
NEC is caused when a preterm (born before 37 weeks of pregnancy) or low birth weight baby is fed infant formula based on cow’s milk (as opposed to mother’s breast milk, which is the “gold standard” for safety). NEC’s symptoms include blood in the stool, vomiting, lethargy,, inability to maintain normal baby temperature, apnea, and low blood pressure. The two primary defendants are Mead Johnson (manufacturer in Enfamil) and Abbott Laboratories (manufacturer of Similac). The legal claims against them include defective design, failure to warn, negligence, and misleading marketing (such as “Human Milk Fortified,” which in fact no human milk is added). So far, there have been two trials, both in favor of the plaintiff, with verdicts of $60 million and $495 million. We expect settlement values to be high because juries are usually sympathetic to babies that need life-time medical care.
8. DC Law Firms
Some of us are not attorneys. The District of Columbus permits non-lawyers to own and manage law firms, so we always form our law firms in DC. (In case you are interested, see Rule 5.4(b) of the DC Bar's Rules of Professional Conduct.)
9. AI and Data Mining Techniques
We have discovered and developed proprietary, highly effective AI and data mining technologies to generate high value mass torts legal cases from various databases. Except for our captive law firms, MTLFs spend several thousands of dollars to obtain a valid case – e.g., Roundup cases cost approximately $5,250, and mesothelioma cases cost in excess of $100,000. Many of the cases acquired are of low value, in that the bodily harm suffered by the injured party is insignificant. This leads to a low settlement, since settlement values are to a substantial extent ae based on the severity of the injury. We can focus solely on obtaining high value cases, such as permanent disability and wrongful death.
These data mining techniques have been used for more than 25 years for a completely different purpose, and thus we know the technology works. Paragon is simply using these techniques for a different purpose, namely, to obtain mass tort clients. Our techniques comply with all federal and state medical data privacy laws, including HIPAA. There is no other company in the world that is able to generate on a consistent basis mass tort clients using any AI or data mining technology.
Our techniques allow us to reach prospects who will not respond to other marketing channels, such as television and Facebook ads. Anecdotal evidence for historical case types (which have been settled years ago and thus are no longer valid claims) indicate that six out of seven people who could file a claim (i.e., they meet all of the settlement criteria which were negotiated with the defendant/manufacturer) do not in fact do so. Our outbound telemarketing allows us to reach those 86 percent that will never respond to any advertising, no matter how many tens of millions of dollars in advertising are spent by MTLFs.
Here is an analogy we use. Imagine there are two bodies of water: a small pond and an ocean larger than the Pacific. In the pond there are hundreds of fishing boats (law firms looking for mass tort clients) and as a result, the pond is overfished (it’s difficult to find valid mass tort cases). As for the ocean, there is only one fishing boat (our law firm) and there are zillions of fish, each one of which can be caught at almost no cost.
Once the data are obtained and written to a Salesforce CRM system, we have several proprietary AI techniques to enhance the effectiveness of the data and to identify the most viable prospects.
10. We Are Not in a Race Against Time
This is hugely important. In most tech startups, you're competing against ten other groups, each with a management team comprised of exceptionally intelligent and aggressive founders and executives, backed by a very good VC firm. The winning firm will make billions, number two will do well, number 3 will be acquired by no. 1 or 2, number 4 and 5 will be acquihires, and the rest will be roadkill. We don't like those odds.
Except for our startup, there is no one using AI and data mining to find mass tort legal cases. We are not in a race against time. If things take six months longer than we have projected– things often do– it does not matter. Mass torts are not going to do away, major corporations will continue to make products that harm people, and collectively they will pay out close to $100 billion in settlement each and every year for the foreseeable future.
If a competitor emerges, that's fine, there's more than enough money to go around. This is not a winner takes all market. (The easiest way to understand why is that we are not developing advanced technology to sell to customers, but rather advanced technology to use internally – i.e., to generate our own legal cases. The last thing we want to do is provide our technology to our competitors.)
B Our Management Team
11. James Mitchell (Chief Executive Officer)
James has over 21 years of mass tort experience. He entered the industry as a lead originator for MTLFs, and then he migrated to founding a law firm that originated cases and then co-counseled with such firms. He then co-founded a MTLF which processes its own cases.
Although he is not an attorney, James has a strong background in law. For several years he worked as a part-time paralegal for his father, a prominent attorney in Los Angeles. He received a better education from his great uncle, Donald R. Wright, who was Chief Justice of the California Supreme Court from 1970 to 1977. For exceptionally important cases – e.g., People v. Anderson, 6 Cal. 3d 628 that were being argued in Los Angeles, Wright’s secretary would send James the briefs and James would attend the hearing. Afterwards, Wright would review the transcript with James, engaging in Socratic dialog similar to what one sees in the movie The Paper Chase. Five years of this, combined with his father’s training, molded his brain a certain way permanent brain damage at a very young age.
James also has a strong background in statistics and data mining. As a graduate student at Harvard University, he took or audited several graduate level classes in statistics and data mining. You might think the graduate courses provided better training, but you would be wrong Like most academically prestigious universities, graduate level statistics courses are basically applied math courses, with little attention to real world data analysis, while the undergraduate courses paid much more attention on how to approach real problems. James received a better education by working as a Research Assistant in statistics for Professor Gary R. Orren, a brilliant statistician and methodologist. (At Harvard, in addition to studying statistics, James concentrated in international security and defense policy, which some call “bombs and bullets.”
James has over 55 years of information technology experience. In 1970, at age 15, he started programming computers, 11 years before the IBM PC was introduced. James was a Software Engineer for Digital Equipment Corporation, the leading minicomputer manufacturer before the IBM PC put these companies out of business. He was a Research Associate in computers and information systems at Harvard Business School, followed by 12 years of high-level IT consulting for major technology companies (Digital, Lotus Development, and Codex) and major commercial banks (Bank of Boston and Shawmut Bank).
12. Dan Stolts (Chief Technology Officer)
Dan is a nationally recognized IT executive with over 32 years of experience. He has spoken at AngelBeat as well as dozens of Microsoft national conferences, including TechReady, TechNet Events, and Ignite, as well as numerous Microsoft product launches.
In 1998 Dan founded and since then has served as President of Bay State Integrated Technology, Inc., a computer reseller, systems integration, and custom software development firm with approximately 10 employees. Bay State was incorporated in 2002, and starting in 2015, Bay State started doing business as JIT Solutions IT.
From 2008 to 2023, Dan was also Chief Technology Strategist for the Northeast region for Microsoft. For Fortune 100 companies, Dan was Microsoft’s public face and voice, generating tens of millions of dollars in revenue. Dan’s primary technical responsibilities were to manage and serve as technical lead for onboarding large enterprises onto Microsoft’s Azure cloud platform.
For Windows Server, Dan was a Microsoft Most Valuable Professional, Microsoft’s highest honor for outside experts. Dan has over 30 IT certifications, almost all of which are Microsoft certifications. Dan is co-author of Architecting Microsoft Azure Solutions (Microsoft Press), and he was a technical reviewer of, and the author of four chapters in, Microsoft Public Cloud Services: Setting up Your Business in the Cloud (Microsoft Press).
In addition to his extensive system administration experience, Dan has managed more than 40 software development projects, almost all of which have been business information systems. His clients have included Accenture, Cigna, Fidelity Investments, The Hartford, Harvard University, Microsoft, MIT, NASDAQ, TJX, United Parcel Service, and Xerox. Key development tools have included Visual Studio, Azure DevOps, SQL Server, C#, HTML, JavaScript and PowerShell. For most of these projects, Dan used Agile and Scrum software development methodologies.
Dan has over 25 years of experience in developing Customer Relationship Management (“CRM”) systems, most often using Salesforce’s Sales Cloud SaaS package. Many years ago, Dan obtained two Salesforce certifications: Salesforce Certified Developer and Salesforce Certified Administrator.
Dan is the founder of the Boston Area Windows Server User Group and is a current or former Board member of two virtualization user groups in Boston. Dan has been a frequent speaker to dozens of Boston IT user groups.
C – Characteristics We Seek
13. Good at Sales
You should be good at sales – i.e., approaching strangers and persuading them to do what you want.
14. Intellectual Curiosity
Some of the potential investors you will speak with will ask specific questions about mass torts. You always can conference in our CEO. At the same time, ceteris paribus, the more you know, the more likely you are to close the sale. According, we seek individuals with a high level of intellectual curiosity.
15. Being Available and Reachable
We like people who are easy to reach, return telephone calls quickly, and are good at responding to text messages and emails. For those who are busy, Calendly offers us a partial solution. For those unfamiliar with this SaaS application, Calendly is a scheduling automation platform that eliminates the back-and-forth emails to find a suitable for meetings and appointments. It streamlines the process by allowing you to share your availability and let others book appointments with ease. (To schedule a telephone appointment with our CEO, you can use https://calendly.com/james-mitchell-10112.) Thus, we can schedule a telephone appointment to speak with you, rather than emailing back and forth as to when a good time to call you is. Calendly's Basic plan is free forever (or at least until they change their mind, after they have roped in 100 million users).
16. Documentation
We are a great believer in documenting our week. We are constantly asking ourselves, “If we got hit by a bus, how quickly could the new guy get up to speed?”
17. Dropbox
Before our first in-person interview, we will want you to read various documents we have prepared. We use Dropbox to distribute these documents because for the applicant, Dropbox Basic (up to 2 gigabytes) is free, it’s brain dead simple, and it’s ubiquitous. If you haven’t ever used Dropbox and you can’t figure out how to install it, realistically we are the wrong company for you, as we do require a certain level of computer sophistication of our employees. We are not interested in other approaches, such as Google Drive, Basecamp, Microsoft OneDrive, Box or whatever), as Dropbox works just fine for us.
D When You Respond / Questions to Answer
18. When Your Respond
If possible, answer all of the questions, and include the question you are answering (without the question, sometimes we cannot figure out which question you are answering). We will respond to everyone who writes to us, usually within 48 hours. When you write to us, please state in the subject line of your email “I have answered all of your questions.” This will allow us to quickly filter out those who did not read this job description before they responded.
If you really don't want to answer our 8 billion questions and you want to talk with us, feel free to call James Mitchell at (332) 301-8010. He works all the time, so you can telephone him between 8 am and 9 pm Eastern time, seven days a week.
19. Deal List
If you have substantial experience with financial transactions, it makes sense to send us a deal list. There's nothing wrong with including deals that did not close. Ideally such list would include:
Date transaction closed
Name of companies/entities involved
Amount of money involved
One or two sentence description of the transaction
Your role
20. Questions to Answer
1. Your full name
Residence and Contact Information
2. What is your time zone?
3. All of your telephone numbers
4. Which telephone number do you prefer?
5. Hours and days in which we can telephone you
6. Your email address
Resume, Writing Samples and Online Presence
7. Please attach your resume or CV.
8. Please provide the URL of your LinkedIn profile. (That means we can cut and paste the link you provide us, and your profile will pop up.)
Your Availability
9. Are you currently employed?
10. If so, how much notice would you need to provide your employer?
11. How soon can you start?
Compensation History and Compensation Expectations
12. For the past three calendar years, what was your compensation?
13. For the past three calendar years, what was your compensation (broken down into salary, bonus, and other compensation (unusual benefits, stock options).
Entrepreneurial Compensation
Choose one of the two paragraphs.
14. As noted above, this is a commission only job. Is that something you can afford?
Raising Capital
15. How much experience do you have in raising capital?
16. Briefly tell us about the investors you know. (Obviously we are not looking for their names.) What size checks can they write?
17. If you have a deal list (see Section 19), please send it.
Thank you for taking the time to answer our (far too) many questions! We will respond within 48 hours.