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UN-CASHED BENEFIT CHECKS for Drug Refund, CMS, and/or Category Two
The lists below represent benefit checks that were issued by the Trust and are un-cashed. NOTE: Checks are stale-dated and void after 180 days. If your claim number is listed and your check is stale-dated, please call the Trust as soon as possible at 1-800-386-2070 so that the initial check can be voided and a new check issued.
(click here) for Un-cashed Drug Refund Checks
(click here) for Un-cashed CMS Checks
(click here) for Un-cashed Category Two Checks |
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CLAIMS ON RETURN MAIL HOLD (click here for the Return Mail Hold List.)
The Trust has compiled a list of Claim Numbers that are currently on Return Mail Hold. Claimants should review this list carefully. If your Claim Number is listed, you should call the Trust as soon as possible, at 1-800-386-2070, to update your address information. As long as your Claim is on Return Mail Hold, it cannot be processed.
For more information see the Trust’s NEWS page, February 22, 2006 (click here)
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Welcome to the web site of the AHP Settlement Trust (the "Trust"). The Trust has been established by order of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania to administer the Claims and payments of benefits to class members who have registered under the Nationwide Class Action Settlement Agreement with American Home Products Corporation (the "Settlement Agreement") dated November 18, 1999, as amended. The Settlement Agreement provides for a variety of benefits, including refunds for the costs of Pondimin® and Redux™, medical monitoring and some medical treatment or payment for monitoring and treatment, and compensation for specifically defined valvular heart conditions that are evaluated on a scientifically established matrix.
The purpose of this web site is to supply useful information, summaries of the Settlement Agreement and links to relevant documents for Class Members and others interested in the Settlement. This web site is not intended to describe or summarize all of the terms and conditions of the Settlement. The complete Settlement Agreement and recent amendments and court orders (click here) define all of those details and governs the rights and liabilities of Class Members and AHP. If there is any conflict between the provisions of this web site, or the provisions of any forms contained on this web site, and the terms of the Settlement Agreement, the terms of the Settlement Agreement control. Legal developments and amendments to the Settlement Agreement may cause information on this web site to become outdated.
Use of this web site is subject to the "Terms of Use" and the "Privacy Policy," which may be accessed via the link at the bottom of this page.
Final Judicial Approval
The Settlement Agreement received Final Judicial Approval on January 3, 2002. For more information about Final Judicial Approval, the benefits available under the Settlement Agreement and filing deadlines, see the News page of this web site. (Click here for News about the AHP Settlement.) You may also note the deadlines listed at the top of this page, and click on a deadline date to obtain more information about a deadline.
Final Judicial Approval meant that certain new procedures took place under the Settlement Agreement. People who had filed BLUE Forms prior to January 3, 2002, could not be paid until Final Judicial Approval. The Trust is now processing their Claims. People who were eligible for benefits but had not registered were required to file completed and signed BLUE Forms postmarked no later than May 3, 2003, if they wished to receive benefits under the Settlement Agreement. (Click here for information about the BLUE Forms.)
Benefits
Under the Settlement Agreement:
- Diet Drug Prescription Refunds
- Echocardiography Screening
- Cash/Medical Services
- Matrix Compensation
In order to pay benefits to Class Members as quickly as possible, the Trust calculates and pays out each of the above benefits separately. Benefits are calculated separately because the Trust needs less information to calculate some benefits than it does for others. For example, a Claimant might have submitted Diet Drug prescription records with a claim, but not an echocardiogram report or tape. In this case, the Diet Drug Prescription Refund could be paid, but the Trust may need more information to pay the other benefits.
Because the Trust pays benefits separately, Claimants who are entitled to more than one benefit will get more than one check from the Trust. These checks generally come at different times, depending upon when the Trust has enough information to calculate the individual benefits.
By cashing a check for any one of the benefits, Claimants do not waive rights to other benefits under the Settlement Agreement, but may lose their right to “opt out” of the settlement. (Click here) for information about opt-out rights. In addition, Claimants who timely register for benefits retain rights to supplement claims (subject to deadlines discussed below) by sending the Trust additional information that documents how a qualifying medical condition has progressed.
Registering For Benefits with the Trust
The time to register for benefits under the Settlement Agreement has passed. To qualify as a “registered” Class Member for benefits under the Settlement Agreement, a Class Member must have submitted a timely BLUE Form (the “Form”) containing sufficient information to demonstrate that the Form was filed by a specific individual who is a member of the Class. (To access the deadlines for timeliness for various benefits, (click here)). To make that demonstration, the Forms must have contained the following:
- Completed information in Question 1 of the Form;
- An answer to Question 7, 8 or 9 of the Form indicating which Diet Drug or Diet Drugs the Diet Drug Recipient used, and/or indicating the duration of Diet Drug use; and
- The Claimant’s signature on the Form.
The above criteria satisfied the requirements for “registration” of a Class Member, benefits will not be paid or authorized until the Trust receives sufficient information that makes the Claim complete for the purposes of paying benefits. Moreover, Class Members who delay completion of their Claim may forfeit their entitlement to particular benefits under the Settlement Agreement.
Deadlines
One of the deadlines under the Settlement Agreement, known as "Date 1," occurred on August 1, 2002. This means that those benefits with a filing deadline of August 1, 2002, are no longer available. The Trust can provide those benefits only to eligible Claimants who mailed to the Trust the appropriate completed and signed Form(s), requesting those benefits, postmarked no later than August 1, 2002. To determine the benefits whose filing deadline was August 1, 2002, (Click here)
A second deadline under the Settlement Agreement occurred on January 3, 2003. The January 3, 2003 deadline signified the end of the “Screening Period”, during which Screening Program Benefits were intended to be provided to eligible Class Members. Claimants who are basing their claim for benefits on a Privately-Obtained Echocardiogram must have had their echocardiogram performed on or before the end of the Screening Period, in order to potentially qualify for certain benefits under the Settlement Agreement (click here for potential benefits).
Pursuant to the Fifth Amendment to the Settlement Agreement (click here for more information about the Fifth Amendment), Class Members who timely registered for Screening Program benefits by filing a BLUE Form postmarked no later than August 1, 2002, and who are otherwise eligible for Screening Program Benefits may receive a free Echocardiogram and associated interpretive physician visit after the conclusion of the Screening Period, provided that the Echocardiogram was performed no later than July 3, 2003. Please note that the Fifth Amendment does not extend the Screening Period. It makes exceptions only for those who have timely registered and are eligible for the Screening Program and who through no fault of their own were not able to participate in the Screening Program by the January 3, 2003 deadline.
A third deadline occured on May 3, 2003, also known as “Date 2.” To notify Class Members of this impending deadline, the Official Court-Approved Notice of May 3, 2003 Deadline packet (the “Official Notice”) was mailed by the Trust to all Class Members and counsel of record on or before February 3, 2003.
(Click here) to access online the Official Court-Approved Notice of May 3, 2003 Deadline packet.
(Click here) for information on how to contact the AHP Settlement Trust.
The Trust
By Approval of the Ninth Amendment (see PTO 5398) on July 1, 2005, the Court appointed a single Trustee for the purposes of administering the terms of Settlement, as amended, pursuant to the terms of the Amended and Restated AHP Settlement Agreement. The Ninth Amendment Trustee has hired a staff and contractors to work on the administration of the Settlement Agreement.
To learn more, just follow any of these links:
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