dojN002060.xml

dojN002060.xml

born-digital

email

yes

no

2002-01-19

Saturday, January 19, 2002 5:42 PM


Dear Mr.Anthony Weiner

I lost my sister and brother-in-law and on Flight 77
which was crashed into the Pentagon, they were on there way to Kauai, Hawaii
with my father's remains to be buried next to my mother, my father's remains
were also lost. I am writing to express my serious
concerns and
objections to the Department of Justice's (DOJ) "Interim Final
Regulations Governing Payments Under the September 11th Victim
Compensation Fund."

The airline bailout act gave the airlines $15 billion in cash and
loan guarantees and capped the airlines' liability for the September
11 crashes at the limits of their insurance coverage. Because of this
cap, the damage caused by the crashes greatly exceeds the private
fund available to compensate victims and their families. Thus for the
vast majority of victims and families, the cap has the effect of
eliminating the right that they would otherwise have to sue the
airlines. 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 actual 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 statute, some
families would receive nothing from the fund under the interim final
regulations.

DOJ's formula allows for non-economic awards at only one-tenth the
level paid in comparable cases, even though Congress explicitly
enumerated a broader range of non-economic damages than could be
recovered in any single
jurisdiction. DOJ's 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, however, judges,
juries, and mediators commonly have provided non-economic damage
awards well into the seven-figure range.

Independent economists have found serious flaws in DOJ's method of
calculating economic damages, including use of outdated and
inapplicable worklife and life-cycle earnings data. DOJ greatly
underestimates promotions and other increases in earnings for
victims. It relies on civil service and military retirement system
actuarial data that track federal worker incomes and pension
requirements, not the higher-paying private sector career paths
followed by the vast majority of the victims.

The interim final regulations also arbitrarily cap a victim's income
at $231,000 a year. Combined with the faulty methodology described
above, the income cap would result in some families receiving
compensation for less than 25% of their actual economic losses.

Under DOJ's rules, a family's award may be increased above
the "presumptive" award only by a showing of "extraordinary
circumstances" -- beyond those suffered by other victims or victims'
families. This high burden of proof makes a charade of the right to a
hearing provided by the statute.

DOJ should fulfill the act's intent by revising the rules to
compensate victims and their families for the types of damages
specified by Congress, at levels comparable to those provided in the
tort system the fund was designed to replace. While DOJ has shown
flexibility on some aspects of the rules, it is resisting the
victims' and families' requests for significant changes. If the
proposed regulations are not changed significantly, victims' widows
will have to sell their homes, deplete their children's college
funds, and give up their plans of being full-time parents while their
children are young. Many families, anticipating little relief from
the fund, will decide to sue the airlines and others, despite the
handicap of the liability limits. We do not believe these are the
outcomes Congress intended.

Please contact Attorney General John D. Ashcroft and Special Master
Kenneth R. Feinberg and tell them of your concern that the interim
final regulations fail to conform to the language and intent of the
act. With the regulations
soon to become final, I believe that only the swift and strong
support of Congress can avert unnecessary financial and emotional
damage.

Thank you for giving this matter your immediate attention.

Individual Comment
Kew Gardens, NY

2002-01-19