N002386
1/16/2002 3:55:07 PM
Dear Mr. Zwick:
On September 11th my husband, woke up at 5:00 AM as he did every
morning. He said his
prayers, went out for his run then proceeded to drive to work. I am proud to say he was a
successful man in his own
right. At 41 years old and he was at in One World
Trade Center. He did not return home to his family that evening and never had a chance to get a
call out.
He leaves behind a wife of 18 years, three children, parents, brothers, sisters, in-laws, friends..the
ripple effect goes
on.
The pain we now must live with is indescribable.
I am writing you today Sir simple to ask you not to forget these men and their families.
As you know, in the immediate aftermath of this tragic attack, our Congress enacted
unprecedented legislation to
bail out the airlines by imposing a caps on their liability thus restricting,(and for all intense
purposes eliminating), victim's
constitutional right to pursue legal action against the airline who at this point they hold primarily
responsible. Congress at
the same time set up the Victim Compensation Fund, in order for families to receive full and fair
compensation for
economic and non-economic damage. Of course that was after all families had to endure a
"collateral source deduction"
something completely unheard of in any state's civil court system.
The DOJ has decided to further add insult to injury by imposing arbitrary "interim rules"
These rules require families to blindly sign up, thereby giving up all their rights without knowing
what their outcome
will be. They are being forced to accept a hearing process lasting on average 2 hours and their
only right to appeal would
be under "extraordinary circumstances," which are not defined and left to open interpretation
Moreover, the DOJ has imposed arbitrary income limits which severely penalize the very
people who were victimize
by this heinous attack, namely those who work with in the financial industry.
I thought that I lived through it all after September 11th but these interim rules have so hurt the
very people they were
designed to help, that they have left this American truly shocked and disheartened.
Therefore, sir I insist that the income caps be
removed and the final rules live up to the full spirit of the legislation so that ALL
families who opt in to the fund can be treated in a fair and equitable manner.
The families of the victims ask for nothing more or less than what these good people
deserve. If our government
turns it's back on these families now in their time of need, than Osama Bin Laden and the
terrorist have won.
Sincerely,
Individual Comment