P000534
Wednesday, February 20, 2002 10:34 AM
Victims' comprnsation and tort reform.
Attachment 1:
Dear Kenneth R. Feinberg,
On September 12, 2001, while firefifgters and others in stunned disbelief descended on the World Trade Center, airline executives and their lobbyists descended
on Congress in an effort to save their industry. The problem was; an industry already hit by recession was about to go under. Four aircraft were used as weapons
of destruction and the airlines were partially to blame. Lawsuits would cripple them. Congress acted quickly. In ten days legislation was passed that would save the
airline industry. The Congress, our Senators and Representatives, crafted in the same instrument provisions that would compensate victims and their families and
promote tort reform.
Tort reform? What has that got to do with anything? Just this. Past damages for negligent behavior set by citizens in courts of law were getting a little high. Some
say the damages were downright excessive and that tort reform is long overdue. High insurance premiums based on $2,700,000 per airline victim were impacting
the bottom line. Those same citizens who were so imprudent in the past would not be compensating victims here. They were excluded from the process and
access to them thwarted. In their place a special master was appointed to administer rules set by Congress that would limit what victims and their families could
recover. In addition, offsets were incorporated into the victims' compensation to further control costs. Precedents could be set here that would influence
judgements for damages well into the future.
Or course, the victims and their families could always sue the airlines. Congress thought of that also and capped what they could recover. And we thought it was
about compassion. It's about tort reform and saving the airlines at minimum cost. And never forget that.
FDNY Retired
Individual Comment
Mountain Lakes, NJ