Future losses in Wrongful Death Actions are to be dealt with as lump sums under 50A (either specifically stated in the statute or to be reported out without incorporating periods over which payments are to be made). Amended 50A (5031(b)) provides that all actions in which the damages are paid as lump sums, judgment should be "…entered on the total of the lump sums, without further regard to this section."

It would appear that lost earnings Awards should incorporate tax effects.

Since Collateral Sources are offsets against payments of Awards over time and Wrongful Death Awards are Lump Sums, there would seem to be an argument that Collateral Source offsets cannot be applied in Wrongful Death cases.

In Wrongful Death, the system builds an Award including

• Options to incorporate taxes,
• Options to incorporate Collateral Source offsets and reduce the impact of taxes for Collateral Source offsets,
• Allocation of Award elements and Collateral Sources to past damages.

'Sum up Award' will

• Produce simple and extended summaries,
• Calculate a litigation expense rate based on total Past Damages and Lump Sums, reduced by any Collateral Source offsets, and apply it against each element of loss and past damages,
• Calculate a fee rate based on total Past Damages and Lump Sums, reduced by any Collateral Source offsets and expenses. The sliding scale is applied against this amount to produce an overall rate which is then applied against each element of loss and past damages, and
• Produce total simple and extended net summaries.

In addition to the option to reduce the impact of taxes for Collateral Source offsets, there is an option to apply expenses and fees to the Award prior to reduction for Collateral Source Offsets. There is little mention of how expenses and fees are to be applied, but as they represent costs of the full recovery, they should be allocated against the full recovery. This is accomplished by calculating the expense and fee rates without regard to offsets, and applying the rates to reduce the offsets.

Finally, the system will allow navigation directly to the Reports Sections that will yield summary valuations and a detailed reconciliation without any discounting.