dojW000729.xml

dojW000729.xml

born-digital

email

yes

no

2001-11-26

Monday, November 26, 2001 5:01 PM

[Fwd: Once again it appears that the government is creating a
bureaucratic administrative nightmare for the victims of 9/11 d...




Attachment 1:




Once again it appears that the government is creating a
bureaucratic administrative nightmare for the victims of 9/11 designed




Attachment 2:





November 26th, 2001



Dear Mr. Zwick,



My husband died in the North Tower of the World Trade Center on September 11th. We have 3 children under the age 6. Below please find my comments in response to the Notice of Rulemaking. I have addressed the points in your Notice by TOPIC as you have indicated in your outline, except where I address point (f.) in your General Approach to Regulations…



Although I greatly appreciate the attempts of the US Government to minimize the anxiety of the families of the victims of the September 11th tragedy by providing an alternative to litigation, it appears that the government is doing more to create a bureaucratic and administrative nightmare for the victims of September 11 with how this fund may be implemented, according to your notice.



In response to item (f) in your General Approach to Regulations, that individuals need information on how the compensation program works before they determine whether the compensation program is a viable alternative to continuing litigation with the airlines, let me tell you first, that your plan targets a group of people who have had the very worst possible nightmare and their backs up against the wall in terms of how to put their lives together. Your proposal to waive our rights to sue the Airlines, Government, Port Authority, etc. when we file our claim further backs us into a corner with no where to go. Asking us to waive our rights to sue prior to knowing exactly what the Special Master is offering, in dollars, does not afford us all of the information we need to make the best possible decision for our families. I believe that all of the surviving families need to have,



1.) all of the facts, specifically dollar amount and form of payment, to make a decision.

2.) a process by which to appeal your compensation "offer".



TOPIC 1 The forms to be used should be easy to fill out by all claimants.



TOPIC 2 The Information to Be Included On the Claims Form



Eligibility Death certificate of victim or,

Proof of physical harm



I do not believe a Statement for the amount of compensation sought should be the burden put on the victims families. If I ask for 5 Million and someone else asks for 10 million, will they end up with more just because they shot a little higher? If you are indeed fishing for indications as to what our expectations of the victim compensation plan are, I believe you need a more forthright process prior to the development of the form used to file a claim. In short, the form should not be your fishing expedition regarding your liability to each victims family.



As I stated above, I believe the government has to have some sort of predetermined guideline formula for the victim compensation plan. Below please find three components that are necessary to include in the compensation guidelines. Based on the following components, it seems that a formula could be designed to fairly compensate all of the survivors of the victims.



Economic Loss = Total Income (Salary and Bonus where applicable) (see W-2, maybe highest of last 5 years) times the number of years to retirement age.

Non-Economic Loss = awarded to all survivors of victim including, but not limited to, spouse, children, and parents. Non-economic losses for children could be put in trust. This is probably the only component of the compensation for which an oral hearing may be necessary because there are subjective needs in each of the individual cases.

Pain and Suffering of the Victim = Consistent equal amount awarded to all "personal representatives" of the victim.



TOPIC 3 Procedures for Hearing and the Presentation of evidence



A claimant should be permitted to re-file the claim if it is not properly filed for lack of adequate supporting information. The Special Master may not have the right to dismiss a claim for lack of adequate supporting information, at least in the case where a death certificate is provided. The Special Master should inform the claimant what additional information is required to file the claim if a claim form is not sufficient.



Regarding an oral hearing, I believe that there are too many variables in having hearing officers. There would be too many variables in the hearing process from the different "hearing officers" themselves to different "quality levels" of representatives of the claimants. Hence, I do not believe that having oral hearings would result in an equitable result for all of the survivors of this tragedy. The only component that I believe is subjective in the plan is the non-economic component. Non-economic losses could be quantified in a grid so that their subjective nature would have some sort of guidelines. With predetermined guidelines, the likelihood of survivors feeling that they were being treated fairly would be increased. A fair plan will more likely encourage participants.



TOPIC 4 Procedures to assist an individual in filing and pursuing claims under this title.



Those claimants that need assistance in filing the claim should be able to have one provided by the Special Master. Hopefully the Special Master will make the forms required to file a claim easy to submit without much need for assistance. Once again, if the form were adequately designed and the regulations consistent, with the variables being income, number of children, age, etc, there should be no reason for one to need assistance in submitting a claim in the economic, and pain and suffering component of the plan.



Lastly, I believe that the goal of the Special Master is to provide a suitable alternative to litigation for the victims of the September 11 tragedy. If the Special Masters goal is to provide the greatest benefit to the survivors of this tragedy, why would we want legal fees in the mix? With regard to legal fees, I believe if the process were more standardized and simplified, at least for those who sustained the loss of a loved one, (which should be where the majority of the fund is directed), the government could provide the greatest benefit to the claimants, while not reducing awards through the distribution of legal fees.





TOPIC 5 Claimant Eligibility



Claimants who are seeking compensation in the case of loosing a loved one should be processed with priority. Eligibility should be in the form of a death certificate.




TOPIC 6 Nature and Amount of Compensation



The overall objective of everyone involved in this process should be making sure that the surviving dependants of the victims are adequately provided for, as they are our future. To be raised in the United States and know that their mother or father was horrifically murdered by a terrorist act, which occurred while their parent was at work, is obscene. These children have a burden that no other child in our history has ever had to bear. No one should have to live below the standard of living that they would have had. In addition, the victim compensation plan should include as mentioned earlier in this document, pain and suffering of the victim, and non-economic losses to the families.



Economic Loss:

With regard to your last statement in this paragraph, "The Department invites comments on how to address the economic losses of individuals whose lost future income streams would have been highly contingent, variable or unpredictable." I pose the question, whose future income streams are not? The fact is, a majority of the victims were young and not even at their peek potential. I believe in the instances where children are involved, the Special Master needs to determine a formula that factors in probable future income increases.





Non-economic losses:

The non-economic component should be divided by the pain and suffering of the victim and the non-economic losses of parents, spouses, and children.



When considering non-economic losses, I would like to point out the long-term effects of this kind of trauma. The stress our entire family is under is unbearable. The physical and psychological aspects are just beginning to surface. When I look at pictures of our family together last Thanksgiving, we are different people. We look totally different now. You can see it. How will our health be affected by this stress? I believe non-economic losses should consider this issue.



Collateral Sources

I strongly urge the government not to reduce the award by any collateral sources of income. Doing so would provide a disincentive for Americans to do what we do best: Use all of our resources to provide and secure the best possible lifestyle possible for our families and ourselves. Deducting collateral sources would be a great injustice, because you are penalizing those who have maximized their time and resources to achieve and secure the American dream. Furthermore, by doing so, the non-economic losses become greater. Ones life insurance premium could have prevented a victim from making another investments (not to mention the "joy of life" activities which its sacrifice may have prevented), which would not have been considered a deduction in this case. Hence, deducting life insurance would be extremely prejudicial and discriminatory. Having an insurance premium produced financial sacrifices. Do not further penalize us because we were fiscally responsible in our estate planning. Additionally other investments should have no bearing on the award. All "collateral sources of income" represent what our loved ones left us. Please do not disregard the sacrifices our spouses and loved ones made in providing for their families. The life insurance and other collateral sources of income/investment represent the sacrifices that were made by my husband for our family. Hasnt he sacrificed enough already?



Thank you for the opportunity to submit my comments. This fund is a critical component toward putting our lives back together. Please remember us as you embark on this difficult task.



Sincerely,



Individual Comment

2001-11-26