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. THE SENATE STATE OF NEW YORK ALBANY 12247 November 16, 2001 Kenneth Zwick, Director Office of Management Programs, Civil Division U.S. Department of Justice Main Building, Room 3140 950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW Washington, D.C. 20530 Director Zwick: As the Chairman of the New York State Senate Crime Victims, Crime and Corrections Committee, I would like to take this opportunity to provide comment on the record regarding the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund of 2001 [Public Law No: 107-42, Title IV] and its proposed regulations. The specific source of my concern arises from the broad definition of 'collateral source' [Section 402(4)] and the possible interpretation which could include charitable contributions. It is of the utmost importance that the tremendous amount of charitable contributions after the September 11th tragedies are not included as a collateral source which, under Section 405(b)(6),' ...shall reduce the amount of compensation determined under paragraph (1)(B)(ii)...' To do so would not only be an insult to the donors and benefactors, it would be contrary to the very law which established the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund of 2001 and contrary to New York State law. In addition to the obvious policy reasons for excluding charitable contributions from the definition of 'collateral sources,' and the fact that charitable contributions were not included in the statutory definition of 'collateral source, 'such an interpretation should not be made, because the Act as a whole requires the Department to exclude such contributions from its definition. Looking at the language Congress used in defining 'collateral source' and the law in its entirety, it is clear the intent is to include only entitlements as an offset to the compensation awarded to a claimant under this act. Sections 405(a)(2)(B)(iii) and 405(b)(6) both use 'collateral source' in context as compensation a claimant has, '...received or is entitled to receive...' (emphasis added). Compensation from a 'collateral source' in this Act is an entitlement in the true definition of the word- arising from a contract or by law. Section 402(4) simply provides major examples- life insurance, pension funds, death benefits, and payments made by Federal, State or local governments- which create an entitlement under contract or law. Although under a moral obligation to provide assistance to those they have collected donations for, and under a general, legal obligation to their donors to ensure the money collected for a specific purpose is used for that purpose, charities are under no contractual or legal obligation to provide assistance to any particular benefactor. Finally, please allow me to concur and restate the position of the memorandum to the Honorable Phillip Perry, Acting Associate Attorney General, from the offices of Governor Pataki, Attorney General Spitzer and Mayor Giuliani, which excludes charitable contributions from potential offsets under this Act consistent with the dictates of New York's collateral source law: ....Section 4545(c) of the New York Civil Practice Law and Rules provides: In any action brought to recover damages for personal injury, injury to property or wrongful death, where the plaintiff seeks to recover for the cost of medical care, dental care, custodial care or rehabilitation services, loss of earnings or other economic loss, evidence shall be admissible for consideration by the court to establish that any such past or future cost or expense was or will, with reasonable certainty, be replaced or indemnified, in whole or in part, from any collateral source such as insurance (except for life insurance), social security (except those benefits provided under Title XVIII of the social security act), workers' compensation or employee benefit programs (except such collateral sources entitled by law to liens against any recovery of the plaintiff). To be deemed a collateral source, the court must find that such cost or expense was replaced or indemnified from any collateral source. [T]o find that any future cost or expenses will, with reasonable certainty, be replaced or indemnified by the collateral source, the court must find that the plaintiff is legally entitled to the continued receipt of such collateral source, pursuant to a contract or otherwise enforceable agreement, subject only to the continued payment of a premium and such other financial obligations as may be required by such agreement. Id. Similarly, awards made by the New York Crime Victims Board are reduced only by public funds or payments mandated by law or contract. Exec. Law Sec. 631, 9 NYCRR 525.11. Individuals are not legally entitled to the receipt of charitable contributions, pursuant to a contract or otherwise enforceable agreement. See Wasau Business Insurance Co. a/s/o Central Synagogue v. Turner Construction Co. Et al., No. 99 CIV 0862 (RWS) (amicus brief)... In summary, while Section 402(4) does not specifically exclude charitable contributions from the definition of 'collateral source', Title IV, in its entirety, is not meant to include charitable contributions as a 'collateral source'. The statutory language, legislative intent and consistency with New York Law all require the regulations and the application of this Act should not consider charitable contributions when making the 'collateral source' adjustment to the compensation awarded to a claimant under this Act. Thank you for considering my comments on this important matter. If you have any questions regarding any of the issues discusses in this letter, please feel free to contact me. With best wishes. Sincerely, Michael F. Nozzolio Senator, 53rd District September 11 Email: Date The local time and date when the message was written. 2001-11-16 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 dojW000792.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. 2001-11-16