§ 1989b-4. Restitution
(a)
Location and payment of eligible individuals
(1)
In general
Subject to paragraph (7), the Attorney General shall, subject to the availability of funds appropriated to the Fund for such purpose, pay out of the Fund to each eligible individual the sum of $20,000, unless such individual refuses, in the manner described in paragraph (5), to accept the payment.
(2)
Location of eligible individuals
The Attorney General shall identify and locate, without requiring any application for payment and using records already in the possession of the United States Government, each eligible individual. The Attorney General should use funds and resources available to the Attorney General, including those described in subsection (c), to attempt to complete such identification and location within 12 months after the date of the enactment of this Act [Aug. 10, 1988]. Any eligible individual may notify the Attorney General that such individual is an eligible individual, and may provide documentation therefor. The Attorney General shall designate an officer or employee to whom such notification and documentation may be sent, shall maintain a list of all individuals who submit such notification and documentation, and shall, subject to the availability of funds appropriated for such purpose, encourage, through a public awareness campaign, each eligible individual to submit his or her current address to such officer or employee. To the extent that resources referred to in the second sentence of this paragraph are not sufficient to complete the identification and location of all eligible individuals, there are authorized to be appropriated such sums as may be necessary for such purpose. In any case, the identification and location of all eligible individuals shall be completed within 12 months after the appropriation of funds under the preceding sentence. Failure to be identified and located by the end of the 12-month period specified in the preceding sentence shall not preclude an eligible individual from receiving payment under this section.
(3)
Benefit of the doubt
When, after consideration of all evidence and relevant material for determining whether an individual is an eligible individual, there is an approximate balance of positive and negative evidence regarding the merits of an issue material to the determination of eligibility, the benefit of the doubt in resolving each such issue shall be given to such individual.
(4)
Notice from the Attorney General
The Attorney General shall, when funds are appropriated to the Fund for payments to an eligible individual under this section, notify that eligible individual in writing of his or her eligibility for payment under this section. Such notice shall inform the eligible individual that—
(5)
Effect of refusal to accept payment
If an eligible individual refuses, in a written document filed with the Attorney General, to accept any payment under this section, the amount of such payment shall remain in the Fund and no payment may be made under this section to such individual at any time after such refusal.
(6)
Payment in full settlement of claims against the United States
The acceptance of payment by an eligible individual under this section shall be in full satisfaction of all claims against the United States arising out of acts described in section
108
(2)(B) [section
1989b–7
(2)(B) of this Appendix]. This paragraph shall apply to any eligible individual who does not refuse, in the manner described in paragraph (5), to accept payment under this section within 18 months after receiving the notification from the Attorney General referred to in paragraph (4).
(7)
Exclusion of certain individuals
No payment may be made under this section to any individual who, after September 1, 1987, accepts payment pursuant to an award of a final judgment or a settlement on a claim against the United States for acts described in section
108
(2)(B) [section
1989b–7
(2)(B) of this Appendix], or to any surviving spouse, child, or parent of such individual to whom paragraph (8) applies.
(8)
Payments in the case of deceased persons
(A)
In the case of an eligible individual who is deceased at the time of payment under this section, such payment shall be made only as follows:
(i)
If the eligible individual is survived by a spouse who is living at the time of payment, such payment shall be made to such surviving spouse.
(ii)
If there is no surviving spouse described in clause (i), such payment shall be made in equal shares to all children of the eligible individual who are living at the time of payment.
(B)
After the death of an eligible individual, this subsection and subsections (c) and (f) shall apply to the individual or individuals specified in subparagraph (A) to whom payment under this section will be made, to the same extent as such subsections apply to the eligible individual.
(C)
For purposes of this paragraph—
(i)
the “spouse” of an eligible individual means a wife or husband of an eligible individual who was married to that eligible individual for at least 1 year immediately before the death of the eligible individual;
(b)
Order of payments
The Attorney General shall endeavor to make payments under this section to eligible individuals in the order of date of birth (with the oldest individual on the date of the enactment of this Act [Aug. 10, 1988] (or, if applicable, that individual’s survivors under paragraph (8)) receiving full payment first), until all eligible individuals have received payment in full.
(c)
Resources for locating eligible individuals
In attempting to locate any eligible individual, the Attorney General may use any facility or resource of any public or nonprofit organization or any other record, document, or information that may be made available to the Attorney General.
(d)
Administrative costs not paid from the Fund
No costs incurred by the Attorney General in carrying out this section shall be paid from the Fund or set off against, or otherwise deducted from, any payment under this section to any eligible individual.
(e)
Termination of duties of Attorney General
The duties of the Attorney General under this section shall cease 180 days after the Fund terminates.
(f)
Clarification of treatment of payments under other laws
Amounts paid to an eligible individual under this section—
(1)
shall be treated for purposes of the internal revenue laws of the United States as damages for human suffering; and
(2)
shall not be included as income or resources for purposes of determining eligibility to receive benefits described in section
3803
(c)(2)(C) of title
31, United States Code [1] or available under any other law administered by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, or for purposes of determining the amount of such benefits.
(g)
Liability of United States limited to amount in Fund
(1)
General rule
An eligible individual may be paid under this section only from amounts in the Fund.
(h)
Judicial review
(1)
Review by the Court of Federal Claims
A claimant may seek judicial review of a denial of compensation under this section solely in the United States Court of Federal Claims, which shall review the denial upon the administrative record and shall hold unlawful and set aside the denial if it is found to be arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion, or otherwise not in accordance with law.
[1] So in original. Probably should be followed by a comma.