Future Tort Claims (Category A)

Under the Trust’s guidelines, Future Tort Claims are designed to compensate eligible individuals whose injuries were not diagnosed or identified until after August 12, 2009. Claims submitted after August 12, 2009 will only be considered as potential Future Tort Claims.

Since 2012, the Trust has received nearly 40,000 Future Tort Claims, which is nearly ten times the number of those claims the Trust was expected (and originally designed) to receive. Given the extraordinarily high numbers of claims received so far, the Trust is currently projecting that approved in Category A claims, including Future Tort Claims, will receive less than 1% of the amount of their scheduled value. For example, an approved Category A claimant with a scheduled award value of $1,000 is currently projected to receive less than $10.00. If claim filings continue at current levels, the projected payment percentage likely will need to be lowered.

Of the nearly 40,000 Future Tort Claims received, as of April 2024, the Trust has finalized its review of 90% of such claims. Approximately 3700 Future Tort Claims remain in process with correspondence currently being sent to claimants. The Trust expects to finalize the processing of all Category A claims this year. The Trust cannot begin making payments to Category A claimants until the Court has ruled on the Motions that many Category A claimants have filed challenging the Trust’s denial of their claims, as explained below. Provided that we receive Court rulings this year on those Motions, we expect that payments to Category A Claims can begin in 2025.

Court Rulings on Denied Future Tort Claims

In March 2021 and March 2022, the Court issued two separate decisions regarding nearly 4,700 Motions, filed by individuals in 2018 and 2021, that challenged the denials of their Future Tort Claims. The Court’s March 2021 Opinion provided a detailed discussion of the legal standard that applied to the Court’s consideration of each individual Motion. That Opinion can be found here. The Court’s decision on each of the 4,676 individual Motions decided in 2021 can be found here.

On March 3, 2022, the Court issued this Decision regarding various Motions for Reconsideration of its 2021 Order as well as rulings pertaining to claimants who had submitted supplemental information in support of their Motions. Notice of the Court’s rulings was mailed to each claimant impacted by the Court’s rulings.

After the Court issued its March 2021 Decision, the Trust has continued to process Future Tort Claims pursuant to the Court’s rulings. However, many more Motions challenging the Trust’s denial of Future Tort Claims have been filed since 2022, and are pending before the Court. As discussed above, the Court’s decisions on these Motions impacts the timing of payments to Category A claims, because we cannot determine the final number of claims and the amount that each claimant can receive until all Motions have been addressed.

Please note that only individuals who filed motions with the Court challenging the Trust’s denial of their claim will see a ruling on their claim. If you did not file a Motion with the Court, you will not see a ruling.If the Trust previously allowed your Future Tort Claim there is no need to take any further action at this time. Your claim has been processed and notification will be mailed once the Trust has determined each claimant’s pro rata share of the total amount of funds available for Category A Claims.

The Trust does not expect to finalize the number of approved claimants, and each approved claimant’s pro rata share of the award value until the end of 2024. Consequently, no payments will be issued to approved Future Tort claimants until 2025. But, again, those timelines for finalizing the number of approved Category A claimants and the beginning of Category A payments are contingent upon the Court issuing rulings this year on the Motions challenging the denial of certain Future Tort Claims.

Individuals with Category A Claims (including Future Tort Claims) that were allowed by the Trust will receive written notice directly from the Trust when the Trust is able to make a reasonable determination of the appropriate percentage that Future Tort Claims are entitled to receive. The Trust will provide further general updates on this website when additional information becomes available.

Category D Claims

Category D Claims are for individuals who filed a claim with the Court before August 12, 2009 during the bankruptcy proceedings which established the Trust. If you did not submit a claim with the bankruptcy Court prior to August 12, 2009, you can no longer submit a Category D claim.

The Trust continues to issue payments to approved Category D claimants via supplemental allocations. The timing of each claimant’s payment depends on various factors, including the submission of a properly executed Release, any healthcare lien resolution obligations resulting from Medicare or Medicaid insurance coverage, and any open probate or bankruptcy matters that are unresolved.

An additional round of payments began in late 2023 following a Fourth Allocation that the Trust completed in November 2023. Payments will continue into late 2024 for Category D claims. Please contact your law firm for details as to when payments will be processed for the Fourth Allocation of your Category D claim.

Additionally, if your address has changed since you last received a Category D check, please contact your law firm and provide them with your new address and contact information.