W000296
Saturday, November 10, 2001 8:10 AM
Fw: September 11 Victim Compensation Act Collateral Source Rule
May Penalizes Diligence
Dear Mr. Zwick: Please carefully cosider the following comment:
September 11 Victim Compensation Act Collateral Source Rule
Shouldn't Penalizes Diligence
The VCA collateral source rule requires that any award under the Act must
be
reduced by the amount of any "collateral source compensation" that "the
claimant has received or is entitled to". VCA Section 405(b)(6).
The Act does not state that amounts received by VCF claimants from charities
constitute "compensation", nor that a VCF claimant shall deemed "entitled
to" any such amoumt, both within the meaning of VCA Section 405(b)(6).
Therefore the Special Master should not reduce any compensation awarded
under the Act, by the amount of any charity payment received by a VCF
claimant regardless of whether or not actually received before application
for or award under the Act.
There are also practical reasons for the Special Master not to treat charity
receipts as collateral source compensation to be deducted from awards under
the Act. Despite the best intentions, anyone who has diligently applied to
any 9/11 charity for help well knows the uncertainty of many charities'
criteria for making grants; seeming inconsistency in grant amounts among
comparably situated applicants; and vast discrepancies between published
grant criteria and the amounts of charity awards. In this enviroment, how
can the Special Master possibly determine the amount of
charitable awards to which a VCA claimant is "entitled" but which the
claimant has not received or for which the claimant has not even applied at
the time of filing a VCA claim or determination under the Act? Such a
deduction would penalize the claimant who diligently applies for and
receives charitable grants before filiing a VCA claim, as compared to a
claimant who perhaps intentionally
delays applying to any charity until after receiving payment from the
Special Master.
If a major purpose of the Act is to encourage 9/11 victims to eschew the
court system and rely upon the Special Master fairly to determine the amount
of VCA compensation that a VCA claimant should receive, the amount of any
charity receipt should be ignored in determining the compensation to which a
VCA claimant is entitled.
For all these reasons, charity receipts should not be considered "collateral
source compensation" under the VCA.
Respectfully submitted,
Individual Comment
Goshen, IN