An Award is built by entry of basic data

• Case Caption
• Docket
• Plaintiff name, sex, age and life expectancy (the system will calculate normal based on age and sex)
• Decedent name, sex, age and life expectancy at death (the system will calculate normal based on age and sex)
• Attorney
• Whether a Wrongful Death Action
• Date of loss event

And element by element (Accessed through 'Components')

• Selection of Grouping (Pre-Award or Award)
• Selection of Award category
• Pain and Suffering
• Medical Expense
• Economic loss
• Discrete Medical Expense
• Discrete Economic loss
• Selection of Element (there are lists of titles and spaces for additions)
• First payment date
• If Discrete, the number of future occasions and interval between occasions.
• If Periodic, the number of years and months over which payments are to be made.
• Current dollar amount of periodic payments or current cost
• If the first payment is more than a year in the future, an annual inflation rate to produce the projected first payment
• An annual COLA rate to be applied after the first payment year (inflation and COLA rates are independent)

'Add' is then used to produce a total element Award. To change merely select/ enter different data. When done, 'Apply' to add the element to the Award list.

Future Loss of Consortium and Loss of Services are 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). Case decisions related to 50B refer to the limitation that Loss of Consortium and Loss of Services be pecuniary losses.

Lost or impaired earnings may be dealt with in the same manner as other periodic elements, or through an extended process. The user can

• Build a compensation profile in current dollars,
• Project that to a future period using an inflation factor,
• Apply different increase rates to the different decades in the earnings life, and
• Add Commissions, bonuses and other compensation

to produce a total work life's compensation.

An option exists for incorporating personal expenses as deductions from earnings. These are expenses that are normally incurred in pursuing employment, and that are no longer incurred. They are not treated as tax deductible.

An option exists for incorporating taxes in the calculation of lost or impaired earnings under either the regular or extended Lost or Impaired Earnings.

An option exists to include or exclude taxes. Taxes are treated as separate adjustments to Lost or Impaired Earnings. They can be calculated and applied in any of three ways.

• The extended profile can include an amount for taxes, and use that to calculate a rate to be applied to future compensation.
• Up to three years of Federal, state and local tax payments can be used to calculate and sum to an overall rate to be applied to future compensation.
• Rates can be calculated using statutory rates applicable to specified percentages of compensation. The resulting rate can be either simple or pooled. (Lower level taxes are normally deducted before calculating higher level taxes, when pooled is employed.)

Collateral Sources are contractual obligations to make payments on a continuing basis as offsets against claimed elements of loss. A Collateral Source cannot be one that gives rise to a statutory lien in favor of the person providing the payment. The only material condition to payment of a Collateral Source should be the continued payment of ongoing maintenance costs (premiums, etc.). The most common offset element seems to be Social Security Survivor Benefits.

There are references in the statutes to Care and Custodial Care. It would seem that if the provider has any discretion in what and how it will be provided, those would be additional material conditions. The same seems true for offsets that might start at some point in the future.

Offsets are normally dealt with in the valuation process, and are not considered by the jury. There are references in Court decisions to inclusion of past Collateral Source offsets in past damages. They are included in the Award section to provide a complete picture. Offsets are accessed as the third item on the list after 'Pre-Award' and 'Award'. There is a list of Offset elements with a blank, and selection of the element will recall the components of any stored Offset.

• First payment date
• First payment amount

• The number of years and months over which payments are to be made.

• Ongoing maintenance costs (they will be applied against the first payment amount for a net offset)
• An annual COLA rate to be applied after the first payment
• Maintenance costs for the Offset during the two years prior to the event of loss.

The period over which an offset will be applied should be the lesser of the expected period of payment for the offset or the related loss element.

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.

The final totals are calculated and adjustments are applied by using 'Sum up Award'. This process calculates

• A Simple Award composed of one or more of the three categories of Pain and Suffering, Medical Expense and Economic Loss. If there is more than one element in a category, the amounts are totaled, a weighted average payment period, first payment and COLA are calculated. The Award is then totaled.
• A detailed Award is also totaled.
• Collateral Source offsets and past damages are allocated and totaled.

Updating an Award is accomplished through an element's index number and 'Recall'. This places the element parts in the work area. An element can be corrected merely by changing any component(s), and using 'Add' and 'Apply'.

If the first payment date for an element is in the past, a portion of the Award amount can be allocated to past damages, as will any taxes applicable to past lost or impaired earnings. After 'Recall' and 'Add', the option exists to allocate based on the number of months since the first payment date.

The process treats the past period as a separate element, the amount is calculated along with any applicable COLA, and the user can choose

• To reduce the future Award by the transfer of an amount to past damages, a reduction in the period of payment by the number of past months, and a calculation of a new first payment amount, as appropriate.
• To apply a specific amount to past damages, and reduce the period of payment by the number of past months and scheduled past payments, with a calculation of a new first payment amount.
• To make the allocation to past damages, yet maintain the future Award unchanged.

There is a minor variant that permits adjustment to discrete payments for past damages. An amount can be entered, the number of events adjusted and the next payment date set.

Collateral Source offsets are allocated in a similar manner. After selecting Collateral Source from the Award list and the individual offset, the details of the offset will be listed. The option exists to allocate based on the number of months since the first payment date.

If taxes are applied to lost or impaired earnings, their allocation to past damages follows the allocation of lost or impaired earnings. If the option to reduce the amount of taxes associated with Lost or Impaired Earnings by the tax effect of the offset is employed, that tax impact will also be allocated along with the offset. In addition, any past maintenance costs will be incorporated into past damages.

The system will produce

• An element report,
• An original Award,
• A Summary Report reducing all elements to the three Award categories of Pain and Suffering, Medical Expense and Economic loss
• A detailed report listing all elements
• Extended Reports that list only the Award Amounts, and
• Extended Net Reports that allocate the expenses and fee against the Award rather than the Valuation.

The system will generate

• An Award file
• A proposal file that will also produce the above reports.

An open Awards file will be recognized as input to the Valuation programs, and allow for their extension and Valuation. The same is true for opening an Award file in a Valuation section.