N001471

Wednesday, January 09, 2002 2:43 PM
Comments on Interim Final Rule

My name is      and I lost my husband      in the World Trade Center on September 11. I have reviewed the interim final rule and I have several comments. I should say initially that we were an average family of modest means without expensive spending habits, both of us worked in order to meet monthy expenses and to try to put aside for our daughters' college tuitions and for our retirement.

I echo the many comments from families and commentators who have stated that the compensation amounts (economic and non-economic) are too low. This would be true even without the deductions for collateral source income, but they are insulting for most moderate income families with the deductions considered. I read with interest that the award levels were picked based upon various comparisons in our society (including awards from lower cost areas of the country), but in none of those comparisions was there a deduction feature (collateral source income) which is a component of our situation as the result of the legislation. So the award comparisons are really meaningless except for those without any pension or insurance and those who do not collect social security or workers compensation for example.

I read that you are hamstrung by the legislation congress gave you, but the compensation levels set are what puts the nail in the coffin. I'm attaching for your interest a spreadsheet showing how my family is treated under the regulations. WE WILL GET NOTHING, despite my sincere belief that Congress intended that the government should compensate victims of this international terrorism against the United States which resulted in my husband's death.

I saw you on the NewsHour and read your press conference statements and you make a convincing case that bringing a private lawsuit in this situation will be unlikely to result in any award. What you didn't mention specifically is that part of the reason for this is that in rewriting the liability laws of the country for this event, Congress apparently, intentionally or unintenionally, made suits by persons such as me virtually impossible by limiting the airlines liability to $1.5B. I again believe that when Congress did that, it was working under the assumption that most victims' families would avail themselves of the fund -- it's unfortunate that in its haste to pass this law no one apparently had time to run the numbers for a typical family.

I appreciate your attention to these comments and hope that you are able to revise the rules and will work with Congress to amend the legislation so that the Fund becomes viable for me and others like me and not just a source of frustration and heartbreak.

Comp Fund Analysis

Possible Fund Award					Totals
Pain & suffering
economic loss EB (43 yr., 2kids, earning 100K)		1,648,971
economic loss Alright
Potential Award		Total     1,648,971			1,648,971
Deductions	Original cost	currentvalue		potvalue
		A	B
workers comp		625,000	625,000
social security mom		0	0
social security mom		0	0
social security child 1		132,000	132,000
social security chidl 2		172,000	172,000
401K		130,000
Foreign Pension		300,000
Prudential group life		320,000	320,000
Term policies (2)		400,000	400,000
Personal Accident		140,000	140,000
Total Deductions		2219000	1789000		2219000

Conclusion: Deducts exceed Compensation Fund Award so rd
Assumptions: A row assumes all 401K is deducted and no SSI for Lr mom
               B assumes that 401K and FP is not deductible because employee contributed
Issues:
is 401K deductible (employee contribution and income generated)
Will anything be included for SS for mom      because she may or may not work

Individual Comment

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