Correspondence and Newsletters:
Judgment Fund Journal Fall 2002

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E-mail Address

The Judgment Fund Staff has implemented a new requirement in the submission of claims to be paid via the Judgment Fund. We are requesting that all agencies provide an E-mail address for the Submitting Agency and Subject agency with each submission.

When payments are confirmed in the Judgment Fund System database, an E-mail report will be generated on the next business day. This report will provide the agencies with the Submitting Agency file number, name of Subject Agency (Underlying), name of the claimant, payee, amount, paid date, claim number, vendor ID number, legal citation, contact name and phone number.

This data will assist the Submitting Agencies in closing out the cases and assist in the quarterly financial statements for the Subject Agencies. Please provide this data on the FMS 196 Form under section 5c(iii), Fax number.

Subject Agency (Underlying Agency)

All payments made via the Judgment Fund are made on behalf of a Federal Agency. It is imperative that the Submitting Agency provide the Judgment Fund Staff with the correct Subject or Underlying Agency . Each Subject or Underlying Agency is required to file financial statements on a quarterly basis. The agency should account for each of the payments made on their behalf.

Claims Submissions

In recent months, we have received claims submissions that have been incomplete. Every other submission requires a telephone call to the Submitting Agency for additional data or clarification. On our forms, we do state that "incomplete submissions will be returned without any action". However, this would not be in the best interest of the claimants / payees in the further delay of the payment. We will first attempt to obtain missing information via the telephone. After the second attempt (2 weeks), the submission will be returned without any action. Therefore, it is imperative that the Submitting Agency carefully review the FMS Forms 194 or 195, 196 & 197 or 197A . The payee information on the FMS Form 196 must match the information on the FMS Form 197 or 197A. We cannot change the payee information on the forms.

If there is a court document or a settlement agreement stating to whom payment should be made and the mode of payment (check or electronic funds transfer), this must match the FMS Form 197 or 197A. Please verify the electronic funds transfer information. The ABA number of the bank must be 9 digits. Please make sure that either "Checking" or "Savings" account is checked. If the settlement agreement or court document states that there will be separate checks for the plaintiff and attorney fees, then we will require two vouchers. If the document states that an "OFFSET" amount must be assessed, then we will need a separate voucher for the OFFSET with the Agency Location Code (ALC) of the office that is to receive the funds.

We can not make payments to the estate of a deceased claimant. Please ensure that the payee is the legal representative of the estate.

These are some of the issues that have been of concern to the Judgment Fund Analysts. The next newsletter will address other issues.

TO PROVIDE BETTER CUSTOMER SERVICE

ALLEN LEHRER
THE JUDGMENT FUND
CUSTOMER LIAISON SPECIALIST

You may contact him on (202) 874-6664 or E-mail Judgment.Fund@fms.treas.gov

JUDGMENT FUND JOURNAL

Wayne Penn Jones - Editor-in-Chief
Mary C. Morris - Asst. Editor
Allen Lehrer- Asst. Editor
Phyllis White - Asst. Editor

Department of the Treasury - FMS
Judgment Fund Staff
Manager, Vacant
3700 East-West Highway - Rm. 6F03
Hyattsville, MD 20782
(202) 874-6664 Fax (202) 874-9522