dojN002159.xml
Title
dojN002159.xml
Source
born-digital
Media Type
email
Date Entered
2002-01-21
September 11 Email: Body
Monday, January 21, 2002 8:51 AM
Comment Re: Interim Final Rules, September 11 Victim
Compensation Fund
Mr. Kenneth L. Zwick, Director
Office of Management Programs, Civil Division
U.S. Department of Justice
Main Building, Room 3140
950 Pennsylvania Avenue
Washington, DC 20530
Dear Mr. Zwick:
My firm is currently representing the interests of several families who lost loved ones at the World Trade Center on September 11, and in that capacity I am writing to comment on the Interim Final Rules. In each case the person who was killed was the family's primary wage earner. In each case there are young children who have been deprived of a father, and wives who have lost their husbands. These families have suffered emotional devastation, and each of them now faces an uncertain financial future.
The legislation which gave rise to the Compensation Fund, simultaneously eliminated the prospect of victims receiving adequate compensation through private litigation by limiting liability to the amount of the insurance coverage maintained by the air carriers. It is therefore essential that the fund be administrated in such a fashion as to guarantee that claimants will receive adequate compensation, since no reasonable alternative to the fund now exists. Unfortunately, the fund fails miserably in this regard.
In formulating the compensation rates available under the fund, there has apparently been little consideration given to the economic realities faced by many of the families who were impacted by the September 11 tragedy. Many of those who worked in the WTC, especially those in the offices on the upper floors, were the top people at some of the most successful financial enterprises in the world. Their talent, ambition and hard work provided them with levels of compensation far beyond the upper limits recognized by the Compensation Fund. They had lifestyles and obligations commensurate with their extraordinary salaries. Their survivors have now been deprived of those salaries, but the obligations remain.
Under the formulas provided by the Interim Final Rules the ultimate compensation available to surviving families can amount to a small percentage of the victim's annual salary. The September 11 widows will be forced to meet the needs of their families through a system which refuses to recognize the true value of their loss. The alternative: face the daunting prospects of a civil law suit the outcome of which has been pre-ordained by Congress to be meager, even if all burdens of proof have been satisfied.
In Connecticut the measure of civil damages is "fair, just and reasonable." For many of the survivors of September 11 the system which has been established to provide them with compensation makes this fundamental concept an impossibility.
Individual Comment
Stamford, CT
Comment Re: Interim Final Rules, September 11 Victim
Compensation Fund
Mr. Kenneth L. Zwick, Director
Office of Management Programs, Civil Division
U.S. Department of Justice
Main Building, Room 3140
950 Pennsylvania Avenue
Washington, DC 20530
Dear Mr. Zwick:
My firm is currently representing the interests of several families who lost loved ones at the World Trade Center on September 11, and in that capacity I am writing to comment on the Interim Final Rules. In each case the person who was killed was the family's primary wage earner. In each case there are young children who have been deprived of a father, and wives who have lost their husbands. These families have suffered emotional devastation, and each of them now faces an uncertain financial future.
The legislation which gave rise to the Compensation Fund, simultaneously eliminated the prospect of victims receiving adequate compensation through private litigation by limiting liability to the amount of the insurance coverage maintained by the air carriers. It is therefore essential that the fund be administrated in such a fashion as to guarantee that claimants will receive adequate compensation, since no reasonable alternative to the fund now exists. Unfortunately, the fund fails miserably in this regard.
In formulating the compensation rates available under the fund, there has apparently been little consideration given to the economic realities faced by many of the families who were impacted by the September 11 tragedy. Many of those who worked in the WTC, especially those in the offices on the upper floors, were the top people at some of the most successful financial enterprises in the world. Their talent, ambition and hard work provided them with levels of compensation far beyond the upper limits recognized by the Compensation Fund. They had lifestyles and obligations commensurate with their extraordinary salaries. Their survivors have now been deprived of those salaries, but the obligations remain.
Under the formulas provided by the Interim Final Rules the ultimate compensation available to surviving families can amount to a small percentage of the victim's annual salary. The September 11 widows will be forced to meet the needs of their families through a system which refuses to recognize the true value of their loss. The alternative: face the daunting prospects of a civil law suit the outcome of which has been pre-ordained by Congress to be meager, even if all burdens of proof have been satisfied.
In Connecticut the measure of civil damages is "fair, just and reasonable." For many of the survivors of September 11 the system which has been established to provide them with compensation makes this fundamental concept an impossibility.
Individual Comment
Stamford, CT
September 11 Email: Date
2002-01-21
Collection
Citation
“dojN002159.xml,” September 11 Digital Archive, accessed July 3, 2024, https://911digitalarchive.org/items/show/29129.