Notice Regarding Medicare Reporting

Posted 10/20/2009
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

Posted 09/14/2009
The Trust can deem a claim withdrawn after the claim has been placed on hold and remains in hold status for over six (6) months.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  After the extended period, the Trust will deem the claim withdrawn.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  The claim may be withdrawn and then resubmitted with an additional $250 filing fee.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

Posted 09/10/2009
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.

SHIP NAME

START DATE

 END DATE EXPOSURE MODIFICATION DATE
BUCHANA 10/1/1972 10/31/1972 Standard Add Ship & Date 9/10/2009
CALIFORNIA BEAR 8/1/1970 8/31/1970 Standard Add Date of Repair 9/10/2009
CALIFORNIA BEAR 11/1/1970 11/30/1970 Standard Add Date of Repair  9/10/2009
CHARLES P 12/21/1968 12/21/1968 Standard Add Ship & Date 9/10/2009
CHEVRON CALIFORNIA 4/1/1975 4/30/1975 Standard Add Date of Repair 9/10/2009
CHINA BEAR 1962 7/1/1969 7/31/1969 Standard Add Date of Repair 9/10/2009
CHINA BEAR 1962 9/12/1969 9/12/1969 Standard Add Date of Repair 9/10/2009
GLACIER 8/1/1974 8/31/1974 Standard Add Ship & Date 9/10/2009
HONG KONG BEAR 1952 3/1/1969 3/31/1969 Standard Add Date of Repair 9/10/2009
HONG KONG BEAR 1952 2/1/1971 2/28/1971 Standard Add Date of Repair 9/10/2009
MEDUSA 4/1/1969 4/30/1969 Standard Add Ship & Date 9/10/2009
MOBILE 7/1/1974 7/31/1974 Standard Add Ship & Date 9/10/2009
OREGON BEAR 7/1/1969 7/31/1969 Standard Add Date of Repair 9/10/2009
OREGON BEAR 6/1/1971 6/30/1971 Standard Add Date of Repair 9/10/2009
OREGON BEAR 4/1/1970 4/30/1970 Standard Add Date of Repair 9/10/2009
PHILLIPINE BEAR 7/1/1968 7/31/1968 Standard Add Date of Repair 9/10/2009
PHILLIPINE BEAR 11/26/1973 11/26/1973 Standard Add Date of Repair 9/10/2009
PRESIDENT GARFIELD 7/1/1973 7/31/1973 Standard Add Date of Repair 9/10/2009
SOUTHERLAND DD-743; DDR – 743 10/1/1976 10/31/1976 Standard Add Date of Repair 9/10/2009
SOUTHERLAND DD-743; DDR – 743 1/1/1977 1/31/1977 Standard Add Date of Repair 9/10/2009
TRANSERIE 10/17/1972 10/17/1972 Standard Add Ship & Date 9/10/2009
WASHINGTON BEAR 2/1/1972 2      

 

Notice

Posted 04/29/2009
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

Posted 03/16/2009
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%.