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. Wednesday, January 09, 2002 12:24 PM Comments Dear Victim Compensation Fund: I am family friend of , one of the thousands that worked in the World Trade Center and was killed in the tragedy on September 11, 2001. I am greatly concerned with the Interim Final Rules you have set for the Victim Compensation Fund at this time. I certainly understand the federal governments interest in protecting the airlines and the airline industry as a whole and thereby setting up this Victim Compensation Fund as an alternative to filing suit in this matter. However, the guidelines as they are presently configured do not, in my opinion, represent the concept of fairness, much less justice in the death of or any of the other thousands who died. First, review must be on a case by case basis working within some framework that you have set. In the case of , this was a young man, age 32, with a wife and 14 month old daughter. He had worked for for four years and in that time had shot up the ladder. His salary increased dramatically over those four years to a base salary of $105,000.00 (before bonus and benefits factored in) in 2001. However, average pre-tax earnings for the three year period 1998-2000 were far less (as much as $25,000.00 less) than his 2001 total would have been. One can only assume based upon his last four years that was headed for much bigger salaries in the future. Your method of basing the economic loss calculation on the period between 1998-2000 does Jason and other young risers like him a disservice and will result in a significantly lesser award from this Fund. Next, your non-economic loss numbers are simply too low. This is supposed to be an alternative to bringing suit and was intended to reflect what one might expect to recieve from a jury award. These numbers do not reflect that reality and these families, instead of feeling that the federal government has stepped in to ease their pain and made things easier in this time of tragedy, feel insulted by this non-economic loss calculation table. Third, reduction of any award by a "consumption factor" is a terrible idea. The point here is that these victims will not get to personally consume any of the income they would have realized throughout their life and therefore those benefits should accrue to the families. Finally, reduction of the award by "collateral source income" is also a terrible idea. The federal government has decided to bear the responsibility in this matter for the airlines in order to protect the economy. No defendant gets to set the parameters of a potential jury award and therefore the federal government should not now be doing so. The fund should pay these families economic losses on a case by case basis to reflect the reality of their situation. In case, it should be based upon his expected 2001 pre-tax earnings (including benefits and bonus) with an inflation and wage increase factor calculated in. Non-econom ic loss should be based upon a number that more accurately reflects a jury award aiming toward just compensation. This personal tragedy was played out in front of the nation and world and the families will never be able to escape the images that haunt them. The event will continue to be on television and a part of our national history for ever. Your non-economic award simply is not right. Finally, there should be no reductions in the award for "consumption" or for "collateral source income." Again, I belive that this should more accurately reflect a jury award, not a government program. I thank you for your time and consideration. Sincerely, Individual Comment Springfield, NJ September 11 Email: Date The local time and date when the message was written. 2002-01-09 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 dojN001466.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. 2002-01-09