New York 50A Award Worksheet.

Award Development is the basic building block for the verdict and the valuation. It has now been adapted to generate verdict files,

Initial Case and both discrete and periodic Award information is entered at this level, including

The first payment date

Current cost

Inflation from point of loss to first payment if one year or greater

Inflation/COLA applicable after the first payment year

Payment period or occasions and interval (discrete items of loss)

Selection of extended or simple lost or Impaired earnings

Selection of taxes (last taxes paid, avg. taxes paid or tax rate applicable to percent of earnings)

Collateral Source offsets applicable to past and future damages.

Lost or impaired earnings can be a simple projection, as with other periodic elements, or an extended projection incorporating different increase percentages for different decades of employment, a complex of bonuses and commissions, a deduction for personal expenses, and treatment of any applicable income taxes as a separate deduction.

Discrete items of loss (lump sum payments) can be incorporated either as individual events or as a sequence of discrete events separated by annual periods in excess of a year. (Discrete items are automatically converted to periodic (monthly) events for valuation.)

It is used to calculate and apply taxes to Lost or Impaired Earnings. Taxes can either be total last taxes paid, separate local, state and Federal taxes paid in the past 1 to 3 years, or separate local, state and Federal tax rates applied to different percentages of income on either a simple or pooled basis (lower level taxes paid reduce income against which tax is applied at the next level).

It is used to update and allocate the elements of loss, taxes (if used) and Collateral Source offsets between past and future damages. The user may choose to allocate by months since first payment date or by a specific amount, and either maintain or reduce future damages by the amount allocated to past damages. The system will calculate a new future first payment amount based on remaining amounts and the remaining period of loss.

The results can then be carried forward to the various valuation systems. In New York 50A Wrongful Death actions, the Award will be valued directly without any discounting or other adjustments. In these circumstances, the summarization process incorporates expenses and fees. The results can then be carried forward to the Reports sections.

The results can be saved to an Award file that can be reopened and updated or used in the associated 'Valuation' or 'Reports' sections. To save a verdict file, either execute save before summarizing or select 'Choice' to access a workable Award listing and then 'Save' and select options as they appear to record a verdict file.

New York 50A Verdict Worksheet.

This is an offshoot from the Award worksheet. This takes the basic 'Pre-Award' Choice and produces a verdict file by eliminating

Collateral Source components.

Tax Components except in 50A Wrongful Death cases

The Award system will generate a verdict file to be used in this section. The list of choices include

A Full Updated Verdict Worksheet. This lists the components of loss, the variables producing the Award amount and the allocation between past and future damages.

A Full Verdict Worksheet that incorporates the variables and the Awards, but does not allocate between past and future Damages.

A Basic Verdict Worksheet that includes the variables without the calculated total Award.

Periodic Detail which provides monthly and annual payments by year from the first payment with annual amounts totaled to the Award and adjusted for amounts allocated to past damages.

Discrete Detail which provides projected payments by expected dates, with payments totaled to the Award, and adjusted for amounts allocated to past damages. As discrete payments may vary from the projection, the detail displays both the amounts of past damages and the over/under amounts associated with the difference between actual and projected payments..

In dealing with extended Lost or Impaired Earnings, the Summary and Detail can be accessed in the same manner as in the Award Worksheet by selecting the number and 'Recall'. As an alternative, the system has calculated a single COLA rate that will produce the total payments under the extended system, and Periodic Detail reflects application of that rate.

Loss elements can be updated for any changes in element variables considered by the jury, and to allocate/reallocate portions of the Award to past damages. The changes are processed by selecting the element by number, using 'Recall', making any changes and calculating the award. To allocate, use 'Add' to calculate and 'Allocate'. 'Apply' replaces the element in the Award.

Changes can be saved to the verdict file by using 'Save' and selecting the verdict file.