September 11 Compensation Idea Likely To Be Rejected by Both Sides

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The New York Sun

A proposal by the special master of the September 11 Victim Compensation Fund for settling lawsuits brought by workers who cleaned up ground zero is not likely to receive a warm reception from either the city or the plaintiffs’ attorneys.

In an op-ed article printed yesterday in the New YorkTimes, the special master, Kenneth Feinberg, encourages the city to settle with more than 9,000 city employees, volunteers, and construction workers who have sued in connection with respiratory damage they claim they suffered during the clean-up.

Lawyers involved in the cases say Mr. Feinberg’s suggestions would receive due consideration, given his experience as the special master of the federal September 11 Victim Compensation Fund. The fund distributed more than $7 billion, most of which went to the families of those murdered in the September 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center site. Because of filing deadlines, many of the worker plaintiffs did not participate in Mr. Feinberg’s fund.

“Ken Feinberg has a unique perspective on 9/11-related issues, and any views he may have on those issues therefore deserve thoughtful consideration,” the city’s top attorney, Michael Cardozo, said in a statement sent via email.

The city has spent years in court fighting the very proposal that Mr. Feinberg recommended. Mr. Feinberg has suggested that the city settle the cases with an additional $1 billion the federal government allocated.

The city has fought the suits, claiming that it has immunity for the steps it took to help New York recover during the uncertain days after the attacks. In court, the city has also said that construction companies could be skeptical of helping the city in the wake of a future attack if they expect to be sued.

The plaintiffs, on the other hand, say that a proposal along the lines of Mr. Feinberg’s is too stingy.

In the event that the city were to make available the $1 billion insurance fund to settle the cases, a lawyer with a firm representing 9,000 plaintiffs, Marc Bern, said the money would not cover the suits.

In his op-ed, Mr. Feinberg wrote that $1.5 billion would be “more than sufficient to pay all eligible claims, as well as lawyers’ fees and costs.”

“A billion is a good starting point, but I believe that it will take considerably more money than that to adequately compensate all those seriously injured people today,” Mr. Bern said.

Still, Mr. Bern joined Mr. Feinberg in calling for a speedy resolution the cases.


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