N001799
Tuesday, January 15, 2002 4:23 PM
Victims Compensation Fund
January 15, 2002
Re: Comments on the Interim Rule of the September 11th Victim Compensation
Fund of 2001
Dear Mr. Feinberg:
I am writing to ask for your help to adjust the inequities portrayed
in the interim rule/regulation of the September 11th Victim Compensation
Fund of 2001. The pain my family has experienced in this tragedy is
difficult to communicate. The interim rule/regulation increases that pain
to an intense level. Please help bring some fairness and balance to our
lives. Please give me a reason to participate in the Fund. Please adjust
the interim rule/regulation to provide economic and noneconomic amounts at
fair, balanced and acceptable levels. Please do not require worker's
compensation payments be given to the government while being taken away as
collateral offsets. Finally, please include the specific calculation
formulas, statistics and assumptions within the rule/regulation.
The Fund, if administered under the interim rule/regulation, is structured
in a way to provide a disincentive to the victims of September 11, 2001.
The Interim Rule/Regulation provides little incentive for participation
because it provides little compensation for our losses. Consequently, the
Interim Rule/Regulation will defeat the intent of Public Law 107-42 because
it understates our losses and therefore discourages participation.
When Congress passed the Air Transportation Safety And System
Stabilization Bill on September 21, 2001, it severely restricted our right
to sue the airlines, which were responsible for our loved one's deaths
because of lax security procedures. In exchange for denying Family Members
this right, they provided the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund of
2001. The Fund is supposed to compensate the victims' families for the
types of losses that would have been recoverable in a lawsuit. This
includes economic losses such as lost income and non-economic losses.
Non economic losses described in the law are very broad and inclusive. They
are described as losses for: physical and emotional pain, suffering,
inconvenience, physical impairment, mental anguish, disfigurement, loss of
enjoyment of life, loss of society and companionship, loss of consortium,
hedonic damages, injury to reputation, and all other nonpecuniary losses of
any kind or nature. The statute says that "collateral payments," such as
life insurance and pension plans, must be deducted from the awards. The
Interim Rule/Regulation also describes the intention of the law:
"The Fund is designed to provide a no-fault alternative to
tort litigation for individuals who were physically injured or killed as a
result of the aircraft hijackings and crashes on September 11, 2001"
{Interim Rule/Regulation, Summary Paragraph A.1.}.
"The attached regulations have two objectives: (1) To
provide fair, predictable and consistent compensation to the victims of
September 11 and their families throughout the life of the program; and (2)
to do so in an expedited, efficient manner without unnecessary bureaucracy
and needless demands on the victims." {Interim Rule/Regulation,
Supplementary Information.}.
The Interim Rule/Regulation issued by the Department of Justice (DOJ) does
not comply with the statute passed by Congress because it grossly
understates our losses and therefore discourage participation:
a) Under the Interim Rule/Regulation, my daughter-in-law
and granddaughter would receive only one-tenth the amount of non-economic
losses recovered in other air crash and terrorism cases, which commonly
result in awards of between $2 million and $5 million.
b) The Interim Rule/Regulation understates economic losses
in two ways: It caps the salaries of high-income victims and underestimates
the lifetime earning potential of victims at all income levels. Noted
economists at a meeting of the National Association of Forensic Economists
showed on Friday January 4, 2002 that the interim rule/regulation uses
outdated statistics and inappropriate methods to arrive at low estimates of
our loved one's future earning. An analysis done by one of these economists
showed that the actual earnings growth for firefighters is 27% higher than
the DOJ estimate and actual earnings growth for financial professionals is
more than 100% higher than the DOJ estimate.
Because the initial award amounts are so low, many families will receive
little compensation from the Fund after the collateral payment deductions
have been subtracted. There will be little reason to participate.
In addition the proposed compensation to the spouses, children and other
innocent victims of the attacks is out of balance when compared to the
generous compensation to the airlines. The airlines will be generously
compensated from the same governmental appropriations as the victims. They
will be paid far more than the innocent victims - up to $10 Billion Dollars
as described in the law below:
From Public Law 107-42 SEC. 101. AVIATION DISASTER RELIEF.
(a) IN GENERAL.-Notwithstanding any other provision of law,
the President shall take the following actions to compensate air carriers
for losses incurred by the air carriers as a result of the terrorist attacks
on the United States that occurred on September 11, 2001:
(1) Subject to such terms and conditions as the President
deems necessary, issue Federal credit instruments to air carriers that do
not, in the aggregate, exceed $10,000,000,000 and provide the subsidy
amounts necessary for such instruments in accordance with the provisions of
the Federal Credit Reform Act of 1990 (2 U.S.C. 661 et seq.).
The underpayments to the spouses, children and other loved ones
suffering from this attack will shift the cost of subsidizing airline
payments to the innocent victims of the attacks.
Please correct the inequity. Please give me a reason to participate in the
Fund. Please adjust the interim rule/regulation to provide economic and
noneconomic amounts at fair, balanced and acceptable levels. Please do not
require worker's compensation payments be given to the government while
being taken away as collateral offsets. Finally, please include the
specific calculation formulas, statistics and assumptions within the
rule/regulation.
Sincerely,
Father of Killed Sept 11, 2001 Tower I WTC
Individual Comment