P000447
Wednesday, February 06, 2002 10:34 PM
Collateral offsets
It was startling to read the current issue of Time magazine and see it
reported that many of the 9/11 victims could end up receiving no
compensation after deductions for life insurance, social security and
workers compensation are made. Then it hit me, Time's calculations
assume that the collateral source payments will offset the non
economic damage portion of the award as well as the economic award.
That is not the law of collateral source deductions in the states I'm
aware of, including New York. Under existing law, collateral payments
received, including life insurance, social security and workers
compensation, can only offset the economic portion of the award.
Therefore, if the collateral source payments exceed the economic
portion of the award, the victim would receive nothing for economic
loss, but would nevertheless receive the full award for non economic
loss at a minimum.
I remember nothing in the statute adopted by Congress that said that
these collateral payments should be treated any different than in the
typical tort case.
I hope Time was in error in its assumption. Hopefully this can be
clarified so that the anguish experienced by those injured and the
families who lost loved ones will not be unnecessarily exacerbated.
Individual Comment