Kenneth L. Zwick, Director
Office of Management Programs
U.S. Department of Justice
Main Building, Room 3140
950 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20530

On September 11, 2001, our government failed to protect the safety of American citizens and subsequently attempted to somewhat compensate terror victims and their families by establishing the Victim's Compensation Fund. The following comments reflect our dissatisfaction with the Fund as it stands in January, 2002 and the hope that our thoughts would be incorporated into the final proposal.

a. Including pensions of the deceased victims as "collateral sources" against the settlement
    offered would leave most civil servants's families with little or no wrongful death
    compensation.  Civil servants are typically on lower wage scales than those in private
    industry, but take pride in fulfilling vital services to their communities.  As part of their
    overall compensation packages, they work for their pensions during their active duty so
    that they can rest assured that they and / or their families will be adequately provided for
    when their active duty ends.  As families / friends of civil servants we view the inclusion
    of pension benefits as collateral sources as clear discrimination against blue-collar
    workers.

b. Including life insurance policies as "collateral sources" discriminates against those who
    thoughtfully and responsibly provided for their families.

c. Valuing the lives of our loved ones on a demographic chart is an insult to the dead.
    All human lives are precious and none are worth more than others, no matter how
    long the deceased lived or what his / her arbitrarily determined "earnings potential"
    was.

d. Capping emotional pain and suffering at $250,000 is ridiculously low particularly in
    comparison to court-determined awards in similar cases.
 
 

We are not seeking funds to replace the lives of our loved ones. We instead wish the federal government and the airlines to admit their careless roles in the wrongful death of Americans. We note that our U.S. Constitution has been violated in numerous ways, most importantly by the fact that our Congress passed a law reducing the airlines' liabilities after (ex post facto) the events of September 11, 2001, thus limiting our potential to gain suitable settlements in traditional court proceedings. Further, we are discouraged to know that an unelected and unaccountable official will determine our compensation. We note that Mr. Feinberg has an unsuitable historical record in similar proceedings such as "Agent Orange" cases in which he neglected to fairly compensate Vietnam War veterans.

In this horrible time of grief and despair, our government has further victimized our families by infringing upon our civil rights. The government and media point to charity to compensate our families, yet fail to realize that such "awards" are often unequitable, poorly administered, and were not intended to take the place of negligent or punitive damages. We understand the long, uphill battle involved in changing a law and do not shy away from it. However, such proceedings would cause additional and prolonged pain to our traumatized families. At this time, we simply request that the Special Master take into account our above comments a-d.

Sincerely,

Individual Comment
Seaford, NY
 

Previous		Next		Back to Comments by Date		Back to Comments by Date
				(Graphical Version)		(Text Only Version)