§ 74.506.Death of Recipient

The provision that decides what happens when the person being compensated dies, and it splits the payments in two.

Money damages awarded for loss of future earnings continue to be paid to the estate of the recipient without reduction. Periodic payments other than future loss of earnings terminate on the death of the recipient.

The distinction follows from what each payment is for. Future medical and custodial care compensates a need that ends with the person; pain and suffering likewise. Lost earnings compensate a loss to the household and the estate, and that loss does not end when the injured person dies.

"Without reduction" forecloses the argument that the stream should be discounted because the recipient will not live to receive it.

Subsection (c) permits restructuring. Where the recipient dies before all payments are made, the court may modify the judgment to award and apportion the unpaid damages for future loss of earnings in an appropriate manner — which allows the remaining earnings component to be distributed among those who suffered the loss.

Subsection (d) closes the obligation: once the obligations specified in the judgment are satisfied or terminated, any obligation to make further payments ends and any security given reverts to the defendant.

Read with the periodic payment order, the effect is that a defendant's exposure for care costs is contingent on the claimant's survival — which is the principal reason a defendant asks for periodic payments in a serious injury case.