N002656
January 15, 2002
Kenneth L. Zwick, Director
Office of Management Programs
Civil Division
U.S. Department of Justice
Main Building, Room 3140
950 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20530
Dear Mr. Zwick,
Re: "September 11th Victims Compensation Fund of 2001" P.L. 107-42
In the immediate aftermath of the tragic attack of September 11th upon our nation, Congress
enacted
the above referenced legislation to compensate the relatives of the victims of that brutal attack.
As
elected representatives of many of those relatives, it is our firm belief that the imterim issued by
the
Special Master on December 20th fail to satisfy the letter or the spirit of the legislation which we
enacted.
The legislation authorized payment for economic and non-economic loss. Economic loss was
defined
as "any pecuniary loss... including the loss of earnings... to the extent recovery for such loss is
allowed
under applicable State law."(Sec.401(5). Non-economic loss was defined to include among other
things "physical and emotional pain, suffering...mental anguish... and loss of consortium."(Sec.
402(5)).
The sole offsets to the payment for economic and non-economic loss were the "collateral
sources"
specified in Sec 402(4). These included "life insurance, pension funds... and payments by
Federal
State or local government related to the attacks of September 11th. These were clearly intended
to be
the only offsets.
In this proposed rules, however, the Special Master imposed has offsets which are in no way
authorized by the statute. Specifically, he imposes arbitrary income limits and restricts pain and
suffering awards to $250,000 - no matter what the extent of the pain and suffering may have
been.
The practical effect of these caps is to drastically reduce the award from what the statute
intended.
Relatives of the victims who were in the financial services sector or in the public service sector -
such as
police officers and firefighters - will suffer a particularly adverse effect. This is not only
contrary to the
legislation but also entirely unfair.
The financial services victims were killed precisely because of the jobs they held. They
personified
American business and commerce. That is why they worked in the World Trade Center and that
is
why our enemies targeted them. The police and firefighters were killed carrying out the most
successful
rescue operation in the history of the United States. It is bad enough that these good people were
victimized by bin Laden. We cannot allow their relatives to be victimized again. As Mayor
Giuliani
stated in his farewell address: "We have an obligation to the people who did die... Their families
need to
be protected just as if they had been alive, financially and in every other way that we can help
and assist
their families...There should be no compromise about that ever..."
The victims Compensation Fund was created as a part of a comprehensive legislative package
which
bailed out the airline industry and imposed restrictions on the right of the victims' relatives to
recover
from the airlines in court. The Fund was established to protect the rights of the victims' relatives.
The
Special Master cannot take it on himself to restrict those rights.
Additionally, at the time the legislation was enacted, the amount of fatalities was expected to be
between 6,000 and 10,000. The final number will be less than 3,500. This will result in a
significant
reduction in the expected expenditures and makes the Special Master's false economies even less
defensible.
We request therefore that the interim rules be amended and redefined to the extent that income
caps be
removed when computing economic loss and that each victim's case be addressed separately
when
computing the non-economic loss attributable to pain and suffering. Justice demands no less.
Sincerely,
Individual Comment
Brooklyn, NY