In Sec. & Exch. Comm'n v. Life Partners, Inc., 318 U.S. App. D.C. 320, 87 F.3d 536, 537 (D.C. Cir.), pet. for reh. en banc denied, 322 U.S. App. D.C. 189, 102 F.3d 587 (D.C. Cir. 1996), the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) argued that viatical settlements are investment contracts, and therefore securities, because investors' profits from the purchase of a viatical settlement agreement depend predominantly on the viatical seller's pre-purchase expertise in identifying prospective viators and on post-purchase management of the purchased life insurance policies. Id. Life Partners, Inc., the viatical seller, argued that its pre-purchase activities were irrelevant and that its post-purchase functions were merely ministerial and, therefore, that the investments it sold did not meet the third prong of the Howey test. Id. Life Partners, Inc. took the position that "once the transaction closes, the investors do not look to the efforts of others for their profits because the only variable affecting profits is the timing of the insured's death . . . ." Id. Life Partners, Inc. concluded that its viatical settlements were not investment contracts and, accordingly, were not securities under the 1933 and 1934 Acts. Id. at 538, 545. The United States District Court for the District of Columbia agreed with the SEC and enjoined further viatical settlement sales. Id. at 538. In a two-to-one decision, however, the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit reversed. Id. at 549. The court of appeals found that the SEC had identified no significant non-ministerial service that Life Partners, Inc. performed for investors after the sale of the viatical settlement interests, and that none of the post-purchase services had any material impact on investor profits. Id.