N002393
Kenneth L. Zwick
Office of Management Programs
Civil Division
U.S. Dept of Justice
Main Building-Rm 3140
950 Pennsylvania Ave.
Washington, D.C. 20530
Re: Comments: Victim Compensation Fund
Dear Mr. Zwick:
As parents who tragically lost on Sept 11th, we would appreciate the Dept. of
Justice to consider our comments in order that we as a family be treated with honesty and
fairness relative to the intent of Congress to compensate the families for their loss.
My recommendations are threefold:
1) Utilize the methodology established but eliminate the cap,i.e. using the 98 percentile.
On December 17th before some 1300 victims' families the Special Masters indicated
with clarity and emphasis that there would be "no cap". A few days later the Interim
Final Rule was issued that A) Clearly indicated a "de facto" cap by adopting a 98
percentile ceiling. This is totally inappropriate because out of approximately 3000
victims there will be some 300-400 victims who earned six figures and dozens who
earned a seven figure salary. Note well that while money is being expended from
public funds, these individuals have been paying significant income taxes over the
years and have been creating jobs because of their production as well as buying goods
and services providing for additional jobs. A jury in a court of law would reward the
families substantial awards because of such earning capacity. What is most disturbing
is the Special Master's comments that an award of over $3,000,000 would be
extraordinary. This gives the families an impression that is a contradiction. Congress
has imposed no caps or stated that any or all awards would be extraordinary or rare.
2) Allow the claimants a choice of using 1999-2001 as a base of earning capacity vs
1998-2000. This would give those families' loved ones who just started their careers
in the work force a more fair compensation methodology. It is also more contemporary and
meaningful to utilize for both new and experienced employees.
3) Non-economic losses should include an award of a minimum of $1,000,000 per
family with additional payments of $100,000 for each dependent for the families who
had multiple losses.
There should be fairness and CONSISTANCY in any applied methodology and there
should be a guaranteed minimum. Finally, we endorse all those comments and
recommendations that will be proposed by .
Sincerely,
Individual Comment
Montauk, N.Y.