Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Department of Justice Emails Description An account of the resource The Department of Justice received more than 11,000 e-mails in response to the agency's public solicitation for comments upon its plans to distribute the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund of 2001 established by Congress to benefit the victims of September 11 and their families. These e-mails have been organized here by date. September 11 Email September 11 Email: Body The basic content, as unstructured text; sometimes containing a signature block at the end. January 9, 2002 VIA FACSIMILE (301-519-5956) Mr. 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 Re: September 11 Victims Compensation Fund of 2001 - Interim Rules Our File No. 580A Dear Mr. Zwick: We are attorneys for the widow/Personal Representative of a deceased victim of the terrorist attack of September 11, 2001 at the World Trade Center. We write to comment on the Interim Rules adopted, effective December 21, 2001. There are several aspects of the Interim Rules which we believe do not carry out the letter and intent of the Act (Title IV of Public Law 107-42), but we wish to focus on one particular aspect of the Interim Rules which we believe to be clearly contrary to the Act and unfair to out client and others similarly situated. Our client's husband who was killed at the World Trade Center by the highjacked airplane was a relatively young man, age 42, and earning $1.1 million a year as a stockbroker. In addition to his wife, he left four minor children ranging in age from 11 months to 14 years. The Interim Rules and the Special Master's comments indicate that, absent undefined "extraordinary circumstances" the economic loss award will be limited by capping annual incomes up to but not beyond the 98th percentile of individual income in the United States for the year 2000" (§104.43). The Table of Presumed Economic and Noneconomic Loss ("Table") indicates that the 98th percentile is $231,000 for the year 2000 and computes the highest economic loss based on an income of $225,000. There is no basis in the Act for limiting the economic loss awards by capping the annual compensation level at $225,000. The Act contains no limitation on the amount of annual income to be taken into account in determining the "pecuniary loss." In defining " economic loss," §402(5) of the Act refers to "pecuniary loss...including the loss of earnings or others benefits related to employment...to the extent recovery for such loss is allowed under applicable State law." The law of the State of New York, for instance, contains no limitation on earnings in determining the "pecuniary injuries" to the distributees of a wrongful death victim (EPTL §5- 4.3). Particularly in light of the offset for collateral source payments, such as life insurance (which is not an offset in a New York wrongful death action), it is unjust and contrary to the Act to limit the economic loss award by capping annual earnings at the $225,000 level. Surely, Congress did not intend to penalize and discriminate against a deceased victim's dependents because their husband and father was successful in his gainful employment. We request that $104.43 of the Interim Rules and related reference be modified to remove the limitation on annual incomes being considered up to but not beyond the 98th percentile and that the Table be modified accordingly. Very truly yours, Individual Comment New York, NY AR:an September 11 Email: Date The local time and date when the message was written. 2002-01-09 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource dojN002605.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. email Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2002-01-09