dojN001995.xml

dojN001995.xml

born-digital

email

yes

no

2002-01-18

Friday, January 18, 2002 1:45 PM
Interim Final Regulations


January 17, 2001

Dear President Bush,

My Husband, was murdered along with his co-workers on the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center.
The interim final regulations written by the Dept. of Justice have not followed the intent of the Congress when they passed and the President signed the "September 11 Victim Compensation Fund of 2001" into law as Title IV of Public Law 107-42 ("Air Transportation Safety and System Stabilization Act").
Congress set up the fund to ensure that the airline bailout would not come at the expense of the victims families. The act mandates full and fair compensation to victims and their families for their actual economic and non-economic damages. DOJ has ignored this mandate and instead has written arbitrary regulations that will result in compensation levels far below the losses actually suffered by the victims and their families. In fact, many families total compensation from the fund and all collateral sources combined will not even fully replace lost income. In effect, these families will not receive any of the non-economic compensation required by the statute. After collateral
sources are deducted, as required by the regulation, some families would receive nothing from the fund under the interim final regulations.
DOJs formula allows for non-economic awards at only one-tenth the level paid in comparable cases, even though Congress explicitly enumerated a broader range on non-economic damages than could be recovered in any single jurisdiction.
DOJs formula for non-economic damages is $250,000 for the person killed and $50,000 for the spouse and each dependent, In a wide variety of air crash and terrorism cases, judges, juries and mediators commonly have provided non-economic damage awards well into the seven-figure range. My children have to go through the rest of their life without the man that was helping to shape them into productive, honest citizens of this country. Hes no longer here to laugh and play with them, swim and vacation with them, be their soccer and softball coach. Is their pain only worth $50,000?
The method that DOJ used to calculate economic damages has serious flaws also. Using outdated and inapplicable work life and life-cycle earnings data and data that tracks federal worker incomes and doesnt take into consideration the higher paying private sector career paths followed by the vast majority of the victims is just plain wrong. These employees were of above average intelligence and productivity and the calculations should reflect this. These points have been brought to your attention on several occasions by economists, attorneys and of . These employees are part of the reason why America has enjoyed the prosperity we do and these calculations should reflect this.
I implore you to rewrite these regulations in accordance with the original intent of Congress and the President. Please dont victimize us again. My children and I have suffered so much more than you can ever imagine at the hands of terrorists and a government that didnt fully require preventative safety and security measures of our airlines. Would your spouse and family be satisfied with these regulations should they have found themselves in our situation? Please dont think only of the bottom line - do whats right.

Sincerely,
Individual Comment

2002-01-18