Welcome to the J. T. Thorpe Settlement Trust

Welcome!

On this site you will find information related to claims and claim submission, documents available for download, and pertinant notifications.
Please click this link to go directly to the Trust Documents page

Headquarters:  J.T. Thorpe Settlement Trust
                           P.O. Box 3397
                           Reno, Nevada 89505
                           (775) 325-6217  
   
Notices: Click here to get on our eMail Notification list

Timing of Requests for Consideration at February 2012 Trustees' Meeting

Any requests for revisions to Trust policies or procedures, physician certification, modifications to an approved list, and/or TDP/Matrix interpretations or questions to be considered during the February 2012 Trustees' meeting must be received by the Trust on or before Friday, January 6, 2012.

Comments to the Trust

The Trust welcomes comments from Trust claimants, beneficiaries and law firms that file claims with the Trust. The Trustees invariably will seek the advice of the Trust Advisory Committee and Futures Representative with regard to any comments seeking to modify Trust policies or set priorities on Trust agendas or finances. The Trust recommends that claimants or their attorneys make an effort to discuss those issues either with the Trust Advisory Committee or the Futures Representative, or both, as appropriate, before raising these issues with the Trustees or the Trust staff.

New Documents Posted

The Sixth Amendment to and Complete Restatement of Trust Agreement and the First Amendment to and Complete Restatement of Matrix have been posted to the Trust Documents portion of the site.

Annual Report Posted

The 2010 Annual report is now available for download. 

Notice of Hearing

PLEASE TAKE NOTICE that a hearing on the motion to approve J.T. Thorpe Settlement Trust's Fifth Annual Report and Accounting is scheduled for Wednesday, June 29, 2011 at 10:00 a.m. before United States Bankruptcy Court Judge, the Honorable Sheri Bluebond, at the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Central District of California, Los Angeles Division, located at 255 East Temple Street, Los Angeles, California  90012 in Courtroom 1475.

Declarations

Pursuant to Section I(d) of the Matrix, the Trust may require additional information to assure that such evidence provided to the Trust is reliable. Therefore, any claim that is partially supported by a declaration to verify claimant's presence at a site, asbestos exposure, and/or dates of exposure, or any other facts relevant to the claim must meet these requirements:

• The declaration must be written by a person who is competent to testify to the information stated in the declaration and the person must have direct knowledge of the factual information relevant to the claim.
• The declaration must provide sufficient background information to explain how the declarant acquired the direct knowledge of factual matters relevant to this claim, to allow the Trust to determine the credibility of the declarant.
• The declarant's complete home address is to be part of the declaration.
• The declaration must be in the declarant's own words and not boilerplate wording.
• The declaration must be accompanied by any documents (i.e. military records, social security records, etc) that the declarant relied upon in drafting his or her declaration.  If no documents were relied upon in drafting the declaration, then the claimant must make a statement that he or she did not rely on any documents for the declaration. If the information was given to the person by someone other than the Injured Person, then the declaration must state who, when, and in what form the information was given.
• The declaration must be specific to the claim filed.
• The declaration must be signed under the penalty of perjury.
• The Trust may interview anyone who signs a declaration in support of a claim submitted to the Trust pursuant to Section I(d) of the Matrix.

Resolution

RESOLVED that the Trustees, in agreement with the TAC and Futures Representative, do hereby amend the J.T. Thorpe Settlement Trust Case Valuation Matrix Section IV (vii) as follows:

vii. Medical Causation. The following adjustments apply to Injured Persons who have different smoking histories and/or medical findings than those described for the base Other Cancer case. In no event can any of the adjustments listed below be combined for an overall causation adjustment in excss of 3.0 OCA.

Site List Modification

A modification to the J.T. Thorpe Site list was approved at the February 17, 2011 Trustees' meeting. The modification is listed below and the new list has been posted on the Trust Web site. Please review the current list, which includes a modification column for reference purposes.

J.T. Thorpe Ship List:

• USS BOYD (DD-544) added to the approved ships list. JTTS installed four boilers on this ship in 1942 according to JTTS Job Book Number 3863.

Deficient Claims Policy

The Trust can deem a claim withdrawn after the claim has been deficient and remains in a deficient status for six (6) months. Upon written request and for good cause, the Trust may extend this period for an additional six (6) months. After the extended period, the Trust will deem the claim withdrawn.

The initial six month time period will begin to run on December 1, 2010. If your firm has claims in a deficient status, you have until May 31, 2011 to resubmit the claim curing the deficiencies. You may request in writing an additional six month period for good cause, or withdraw the claim. The claim may be withdrawn and then resubmitted with an additional $250 filing fee. If none of these options are chosen, the Trust will deem the claim withdrawn and notify your firm.

According to the Trust Distribution Procedures, the existing statute of limitations for the claim will not be affected by the withdrawal, only its place in the FIFO queue. "A claimant may withdraw a Trust Claim at any time upon written notice to the Trust and file another claim subsequently without affecting the status of the claim for statute of limitations purposes, but any such claim filed after withdrawal shall be given a place in the FIFO Processing Queue based the date of such subsequent filing." TDP Section 6.3.

Payment Percentage Adjustment to 45%

In November of 2008, the Trustees, with the consent of the TAC and the Futures Representative, (Trust Fiduciaries) temporarily reduced the Payment Percentage from 50 to 40 percent to allow the Trust time to determine whether early, unanticipated claiming patterns were likely to persist and require an adjustment of the Payment Percentage to a level below 50%. The Trust Fiduciaries have completed in depth studies of claiming patterns and have determined that the Payment Percentage should be adjusted to forty-five percent (45%) of the Total Liquidated Value. After necessary updates to the claims processing system and payment procedures have been completed, claims that received forty percent (40%) of the Total Liquidated Value will be paid the additional five percent (5%) in accordance with this change. The Trust is striving to have the payments sent on or before January 31, 2011. The TDP requires periodic review of the Payment Percentage. The Trust Fiduciaries therefore will continue to examine any changes in the volume and composition of claims to determine whether further adjustments should be made.

Verification of Interrogatories by Claimant or Heir

At the November 18, 2010 Trustees’ meeting, the Trustees, with the consent of the Futures Representative and the Trust Advisory Committee (Trust Fiduciaries) adopted a new policy regarding verification of interrogatories.

The policy is as follows:

For all claims filed with the Trust on or after December 1, 2010, the interrogatories must be verified by the claimant or heir. Any claim submitted without verified interrogatories will be returned to the firm with a deficiency letter.

Updated Notice Regarding Medicare Reporting

This will update the Trust's notice posted on October 20, 2009, concerning the 2007 Medicare, Medicaid, and SCHIP Extension Act ("Act") and the required reporting of information to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services ("CMS") regarding payments made to Medicare recipients.  In February 2010, the Trust received updated guidance from CMS indicating that the Trust is not a reporting entity under the Act.  As a result of the updated guidance, the Trust cancelled its registration as a reporting entity.

NOTICE

PLEASE TAKE NOTICE that a hearing on the motion to approve J.T. Thorpe Settlement Trust's Fourth Annual Report and Accounting is scheduled for Wednesday, June 30, 2010, at 2:00 p.m. before United States Bankruptcy Judge, Sheri Bluebond, in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Central District of California, Los Angeles Division, located at 255 East Temple Street, Courtroom 1475, Los Angeles, California  90012. View 2009 Annual Report

Consumption Guidelines for Wrongful Death Claims

The Trust documents allow claims to receive the benefit of up to $200,000 (base case) in economic loss without additional documents.  If a wrongful death claim requests economic loss in excess of the $200,000, the report from the economist must take into consideration the lack of consumption by the deceased.  In determining whether a deduction for consumption is appropriate, any claim which qualifies as a "living" claim under the Claims Valuation Matrix shall not be subject to a consumption deduction.  In cases claiming additional economic loss, it is likely the Trust will request additional back-up documents supporting the economist's conclusions.

Reminder Concerning Hold Claims Policy

As you may recall, the Trust implemented the new hold policy in September 2009.  A notice was sent to the firms and it was posted on the Web site on September 14, 2009.  The policy stated that the Trust can deem a claim withdrawn after the claim has been placed on hold and remains in the hold status for over six (6) months. The initial six month time period began running on October 1, 2009, so if your firm had claims on hold as of October 1, 2009, and those claims have remained on hold since that date, you have until April 30, 2010 to resubmit the claim with a complete claim packet (claim form and supporting documents). The Trust will not extend the time period without show of good cause.  The claim may be withdrawn and then resubmitted with an additional $250 filing fee.  If none of these options are chosen, the Trust will deem the claim withdrawn and notify your firm.

Modifications Approved

Modifications to the J.T. Thorpe Ship List were approved at the February 18, 2010 Trustees' meeting. The modifications are listed below and a new ship list has been posted on the Trust Web site. Please review the current ship list, which includes a modification column for reference purposes.

Notice Regarding Medicare Reporting

In 2007, Congress passed the Medicare, Medicaid, and SCHIP Extension Act ("Act"), which imposes new and significant reporting requirements on certain entities that settle claims with Medicare recipients. In general, the Act requires a reporting entity to provide information to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services ("CMS") regarding payments made to Medicare recipients. These reporting requirements apply to payments made after January 1, 2010. A failure to report results in a penalty to the Trust of $1,000 per day for every claim not reported.

CMS has interpreted the Act to require reporting by a wide variety of settling parties, which include this Trust. Due to the severe penalties associated with a failure to report, and CMS' position as to which entities are required to report, the Trust has registered as a reporting entity.

CMS does not require this Trust to report payments related to a claimant whose exposure to asbestos ended before December 5, 1980. However, there are still many questions about this exposure issue that the Trust will have to resolve before its first reports are filed.

At this time, the Trust is investigating procedural or operational changes that it may have to make in order to gather the information needed for reporting purposes.  It is possible that the Trust will be required to obtain additional information from claimants.  As the Trust works through these issues, it will provide further notice and information to claimants.

THE TRUST WILL BE REPORTING TO CMS ALL PAYMENTS MADE AS OF JANUARY 1, 2010, WITH RESPECT TO CLAIMS THAT THE TRUST REASONABLY BELIEVES SATISFY THE MEDICARE REPORTING REQUIREMENTS BASED UPON AVAILABLE INFORMATION.

Hold Claims Policy

The Trust can deem a claim withdrawn after the claim has been placed on hold and remains in hold status for over six (6) months. Upon written request and for good cause, the Trust may extend this period for an additional six (6) months.  After the extended period, the Trust will deem the claim withdrawn.

The initial six month time period will begin running on October 1, 2009.   If your firm has claims on hold, you have until April 30, 2010 to resubmit the claim with a complete claim packet (claim form and supporting documents), request in writing an additional six month period for good cause, or withdraw the claim.  The claim may be withdrawn and then resubmitted with an additional $250 filing fee.  If none of these options are chosen, the Trust will deem the claim withdrawn and notify your firm.

According to the Trust Distribution Procedures, the existing statute of limitations for the claim will not be affected by the withdrawal, only its place in the FIFO queue.  "A claimant may withdraw a Trust Claim at any time upon written notice to the Trust and file another claim subsequently without affecting the status of the claim for statute of limitations purposes, but any such claim filed after withdrawal shall be given a place in the FIFO Processing Queue based the date of such subsequent filing." TDP Section 6.3.

Modification to the J.T. Thorpe Ship List

Modifications to the J.T. Thorpe Ship List were approved at the September 10, 2009 Trustees' meeting. The modifications are listed below and a new ship list has been posted on the Trust Web site. Please review the current ship list, which includes a modification column for reference purposes.

Notice

PLEASE TAKE NOTICE that a hearing on the motion to approve J.T. Thorpe Settlement Trust's Third Annual Report and Accounting is scheduled for Tuesday, June 9, 2009, at 2:00 p.m. before United States Bankruptcy Judge, Sheri Bluebond, in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Central District of California, Los Angeles Division, located at 255 East Temple Street, Courtroom 1475, Los Angeles, California 90012. View 2008 Annual Report

2009 Inflation

Claim payments made in 2009 will be adjusted for inflation, based upon the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W). The inflation adjustment for claims paid in 2009 is a reduction of .5%, compounded with the inflation factor of 4.3% for 2008. The total compounded inflation rate for claims paid in 2009 is 3.78%. The Trust's current payment percentage is 40%.