dojN001991.xml

dojN001991.xml

born-digital

email

yes

no

2002-01-18

Friday, January 18, 2002 12:20 PM
Changes to Interim Rules

Attachment 1,
January 18, 2002

To Our Elected Officials:

In the immediate aftermath of the tragic attack on The United States, on September 11, Congress enacted the Victims' Compensation Fund of 2001, to compensate the relatives of the victims of that brutal attack. As you know, this fund was enacted as part of a comprehensive package that bailed out the airline industry and imposed restrictions on the rights of the victims' relatives to recover damages from court. We implore you, as our elected officials, to demand changes to the interim rules issued by Kenneth Feinberg, the Special Master. As it stands, Mr. Feinberg's self-imposed rules fail to satisfy the letter or the spirit of the legislation, which was enacted. Specifically we request that you act on our behalf and demand the following changes to the interim rules:



1. Remove arbitrary income limits.



The arbitrary income limits imposed by the Special Master are not only unfair but also inconsistent with the letter and spirit of the law. Those victims from the financial industry are specifically harmed by these limits. They were targeted and murdered precisely because of the jobs they held and where they worked - the World Trade Center, the financial capital of the world, the embodiment of financial success. The families of those who achieved such success should see that reflected in their awards. We ask that you demand that Mr. Feinberg lift the arbitrary income limits so that each family can be treated fairly; commensurate with the support the victims provided their families before their death.



2. Increase non-economic rewards.



Mr. Feinberg has arbitrarily restricted the non-economic awards for pain and suffering, no matter what the extent of the pain and suffering. This is unacceptable. My sister watched, along with the rest of the world, on television while her husband was trapped in a burning building and then as this building collapsed. She and her children are a part of tragic history and will always be linked to these events as they are replayed throughout the course of their lifetimes. My sister now lives in fear of the unknown -- how will this tragedy effect her children as they grow up. How can the Special Master take it upon himself to restrict the rights of families such as my sister's family? We request that the interim rules be amended to more appropriately compensate the victims' families for their immeasurable pain and suffering. We request that the interim rules be amended and that compensation for pain and suffering more accurately reflect that horror of September 11, 2001. Justice demands no less.



Individual Comment
Wyoming, Ohio

2002-01-18