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It's my understanding that the attorneys recieving fees from the 7th amendment grid claimants aren't getting any actual common benefit refund checks. Their benefit in the CMF reduction to 6.4% comes from getting to keep an additional percentage of fee money that they otherwise would have had to forfeit up to common benefit. Since the CMF wasn't deducted from any 7th claim money until AFTER the fee had been set at 6.4%, there is no actual refund due on any difference in the percentage amounts because there was never a previous deduction taken at a higher amount.

It's a different story with those attorneys for claimants who were paid matrix in the original settlement. Those of us who were paid from the original trust fund (both represented and pro se), had 9% common benefit fee deducted from our compensation.  Now that the CBF has been reduced from 9% down to 6.394%, the difference is being refunded back to us and any future matrix claimant will now only pay the lower amount. For those who paid it as pro se, the refund comes directly to us in a check that will be mailed out sometime by the end of summer. For those represented by a private attorney, the refund check will be mailed to the attorney...and the attorney gets to keep it.

So, if your question is in reference to a 7th grid claim, the answer is NO because there won't be any CBF refund check sent out on those grid claims. The only exception might be a 7th claimant with a progression claim paid prior to the decrease in CBF since some or all of that compensation would have been paid by the original fund. If you're asking about original fund claims, then the answer is YES because there will be refund checks sent sometime within the next 3 months or so.

Cinnamon, I can tell from your question that you still don't understand. True, there was no CBF deducted from the interim distributions. However, that doesn't mean they got any kind of "bonus" because of it. They're still the ones that pay that 6.4% on the total amount of your compensation and whether it came out of the first distribution, final distribution or split between the two doesn't make any difference at all...they're still paying that same 6.4% on the total amount of your compensation.

They already got the biggest "bonus" of all when you agreed to fork over 40% of your money to them in exchange for getting your claim filed AND paying whatever the CBF ended up being.  Unless there's something stating otherwise in your contract, when you signed with them you agreed that the common benefit would be paid by them as part of their contingency fee. Since the CBF ended up being less than the original estimate of 9%, they benefit by getting to keep the difference instead of having to pay the full 9%. That's the only additional "bonus" they're getting out of it (assuming they take only what they're suppose to from this final payment). But YOU still pay a combined total of 40% in attorney fees, even if there ended up being no common benefit fee at all.

Marie--Since the time frame for developing a plan to distribute refunds to those of us who received matrix payments under the original settlement seems to be the same as for those now being paid, is there a reason I missed somewhere that allows a 3 month delay?

Thanks in advance for your reply.

Stephanie

Marie, What were the requested forms ? Address verification is all I have recieved.

Marie, any news on the refund ?

UPDATE ON REFUNDS

The judge signed PTO 7860 on June 3rd which, among other things, gave approval of the trust's distribution plan filed with the court in early May. I failed to notice it had been approved before now because, frankly, I'm just not paying very close attention anymore.

Anyway, according to the trust's distribution plan, they're already about a month overdue in sending out letters of notification which would include the paperwork and releases we need to sign in order for them to send us the money.  These letters should have been mailed, according to their OWN plan, within 10 days of the court's approval.  Obviously, it's now long past that time. 

I just e-mailed the trust asking what's up with the delay -  although I don't have high expectations of getting a response via that route. I will follow up with a phone call within the next few days and let you know what I find out. If that fails to get me the information I want, I'll follow up with a registered letter. It concerns me that they are not following their own plan of distribution regarding these notifications and wonder if this could be an indication that they might also fail to follow their own time frame for distributing the money to us.