Ringler, English Firms to Merge Next Month

Ringler Associates Inc., a Newport Beach settlement annuity brokerage firm, said Wednesday that it will merge with English & Associates Inc. of Santa Ana.

Settlement annuity brokerage firms--Ringler is one of the nation’s largest--negotiate long-term payment of damages in lawsuits with the plaintiffs and then find insurance companies willing to handle the payments on behalf of the defendants by setting up insurance annuity plans.

Such settlements provide the damaged parties a steady source of income over a long period of time while reducing the amount of money the defendants would have to pay in a lump settlement.

According to Ringler Associates, the merger, which becomes final next month, combines the largest and fifth-largest settlement annuity firms in the nation. Terms of the merger were not disclosed.