Printing - FECA-PT2 - National Association of Letter Carriers

Line 1 is the present value of the right to receive all of the payments included in the structured
settlement, allocated in the case of multiple recipients in the same manner as single payment
recoveries. See (20 CFR § 10.713). In situations where the periodic payments are funded by the
purchase of an annuity by the responsible third party, the cost of the annuity to the third party will
be accepted by OWCP and FEEWC as the present value of the right to receive the future payments.
If the FECA beneficiary (or the beneficiary’s attorney) wishes to use a different method of
computing the present value, the beneficiary should make a written request for a formal
determination on this issue. For purposes of filling out the SOR and making the required refund, it
is the beneficiary’s burden to provide probative evidence and analysis to allow a determination to
be made by OWCP/FEEWC regarding the use of a different method of computing the present value
of the right to receive periodic payments.
f. Refundable Disbursements. The refundable disbursements of a claim consist of the total
money paid by OWCP from the Employees’ Compensation Fund. However, charges for medical file
review done at the request of OWCP are excluded. Any medical file review charges will
automatically be deducted from the bill pay history.See (20 C.F.R. § 10.714). Continuation of pay
is not compensation and is not subject to the subrogation and refund provisions of FECA. See Paul
L. Dion, 36 ECAB 656 (June 19, 1985; petition for reconsideration denied, November 14, 1985).
Where the FECA beneficiary requests that the total disbursements be reduced by the cost of
medical examinations required to be made available to the employee by the employing agency or
at the employing agency’s cost under a statute other than the FECA, the beneficiary has the
burden of establishing that the examinations were so required. OWCP or FEEWC will notify the
beneficiary in writing of its determination on this matter. See (20 C.F.R. § 10.714).
g. Attorney’s Fees. Reasonable attorney’s fees can be deducted from the gross recovery and
from the refundable disbursements. Attorney’s fee percentages are computed by dividing the
amount of fees actually paidby the net recovery listed on Line 7. The percentage must be
considered reasonable by OWCP or EEWC.Generally, any fee in excess of 40% would be deemed
inappropriate and such deduction would be disallowed. If an attorney representing a FECA
beneficiary reduces his or her fee from the amount originally agreed to by the FECA beneficiary,
the reduced percentage would apply to the OWCP refundable disbursements.
h. Costs of Suit. The costs of suit, as allowed by OWCP or FEEWC, may be deducted on the
SOR and must be itemized when submitted to OWCP or FEEWC. If such itemization of costs is not
received by OWCP or FEEWC, those costs will be disallowed. Examples of costs which are
permitted are out of pocket expenditures that are not part of the normal overhead of a law firm’s
operation, e.g., filing fees, travel expenses, record copy services, witness fees, court reporter costs
for transcripts of hearings and depositions, postage, and long distance telephone calls. Examples
of costs which are not permitted are normal overhead costs of a firm, e.g., in-house record
copying, secretarial or paralegal services, and co-counsel fees. If, for example, a firm lists as a
separate cost item a specific charge (for computer time or metered access time for legal research
on Westlaw or some other legal research provide), and this charge is specific to the individual case,
this would be an allowable cost. On the other hand, a cost item for a “percentage” of a firm’s legal
research costs would not be allowable, because this amounts to the firm attempting to recover for
overhead costs.
FECA-PT2 Printed: 06/08/2010 570