P000502
February 4, 2001
Special Master Feinberg
Department of Justice
Fax 301-519-5956
Dear Sir or Madame:
This letter is to discuss the Victim's Compensation Fund enacted by Congress on
September 21 and the impact its unfairness is having on my family. I believe that the
problem stems from the haste in which it was written...in just 48 hours by Congress.
Under this program a large portion of the families like mine will receive nothing beyond
what they were already entitled to. While we do wholeheartedly support necessary
compensation to the wives, husbands and children, I cannot understand the government's
position that the parents of unmarried victims are not included.
We are the victims of the September 11th attack, and we urge you to change the federal
regulations to provide greater compensation for the pain and suffering of our loved ones.
This system was created to reduce the liability of the airlines and others, severely limiting the ability of our families to recover damages in court. In return, we have an unjust, limited compensation scheme with inadequacies. The regulations allow non-economic
damages that are approximately one-tenth the level normally paid in other plan crash and
terrorism cases. The non-economical award of $250,000 is an insult when one considers
the economic support given to the airlines industry. Because the law requires deduction
of "collateral sources" including life insurance and pension plans, the awards allowed
under these regulations will be unconscionably low.
With awards for members of the military, there are no deductions for social security,
workers compensation, life insurance and other such factors as there would be for our
families. Why did Congress decide differently in the September 11th tragedy? When you
deduct social security and workers compensation (social security and workers comp
death benefits are paid to everyone gainfully employed) then deduct life insurance and pensions that had, we are left with basically nothing.
The loss of our son , a New York City fireman, has devastated our family. He was always an integral part of our lives bringing joy, help and support to us and life will never be the same again. My wife and I have been disabled for years, a condition made tolerable because of anticipated golden years enjoyed with the love and pride in our children. Our happiness is gone forever...our lives destroyed with the events of September 11th. Now, with the unimaginable heartache from the loss of our beloved son, the government has added an inexplicable hurt to our overwhelming sadness in stating
that families such as ours, are not entitled to fair compensation for our loss.
was off duty, ready to return home, when the alarms came in, and without question, he again put on his gear, ran down the street and jumped on the fire engine to join his fellow firefighters in this emergency. This unselfish decision, as you know, cost him his life and cost us our beloved son.
was an American who loved his country, paid his taxes, and was killed by a terrorist organization that killed before. He was a taxpayer for 20 years and will continue to be a taxpayer because his social security and death benefits are taxed. His tax dollars, will go toward rebuilding Afghanistan, bailing out the airline industry ($15 billion), and paying the high cost of "justice" for .
His sacrifice has been lost in the arguments over benefits for his family. The airline
bailout created a compensation fund for people who waive their right to sue. Awards are
to be based partly on economic loss suffered by each family and partly on pain and
suffering the victim endured...there will never be enough money minted to compensate
for our loss. The entire nation was attacked on September 11th, but the victims in the
trade center and their families suffered the direct hit!!
It would be the ultimate irony if tax dollars that failed to protect him and destroyed his family were to go everywhere else but toward rebuilding his family's life. I cannot live with that. Can you?
Sincerely,
Individual Comment
Deer Park, NY