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. Sunday, January 13, 2002 5:43 PM comments on Interim Final Rule 13 January 2002 To: The Special Master of the September 11 Victim Compensation Fund: Re: Interim Final Rule After reviewing the Interim Final Rule that is published on the Victim Compensation Fund Web site, I am concerned that the Interim Final Rule as presently written is not consistent with the spirit and intent of the fund. My husband, &nbsp, killed while working at the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, was financially responsible and deeply concerned for my welfare and, therefore, secured life insurance to protect me in case he died. It appears that based on &nbsp's age (57) and income, the amount of my collateral sources is greater than the award projected by the published charts. It is my understanding that the award includes both economic and non-economic loss (also referred to as "pain and suffering"). I do not believe that life insurance purchased by any victim should be part of the collateral sources that are to offset any award. Furthermore, I believe that any collateral sources should offset ONLY economic loss and that everyone should receive the non-economic loss amount that has been specified for "pain and suffering" regardless of the victim's economic situation. The Interim Final Rule (and perhaps the law) is unfair for those people who used their money to prepare for the unexpected. In a recent meeting with U. S. Senators from NJ, I learned that perhaps the legislators acted in haste when drawing up the guidelines for the law. I believe it is the current administration's desire to foster and strengthen self-reliant families. Reducing the award by the amount of insurance a victim carried seems in opposition to this desire. The Interim Final Rule appears to favor those who did not purchase life insurance to protect their families and those who have no dependents and no need for life insurance. Indeed, I find it reprehensible that our taking care of ourselves should result in exclusion from a Fund that is supposedly equitable to all. The proposed disbursement of the Fund provides no real motivation for me to waive my right to sue. Specifically, by including the amount for "pain and suffering" in the total from which "collateral sources" are subtracted, some families may receive nothing for their loss. I believe the people most likely to sue are those in a financial situation that does not require immediate monies from the Fund and can withstand a wait of 10 years or more while the lawsuit is in court. Those are the same people who are apt to have had purchased life insurance and thus are most likely to have high collateral sources. The idea of purchasing life insurance is to cover economic loss in case of death, so one might expect life insurance to offset the economic loss. However, life insurance does not generally address non-economic loss, while the Fund implies that it does. By allowing the "pain and suffering" award to be eliminated by collateral sources, you are motivating the individuals most capable of bringing legal action to do just that. Please consider adjusting the guidelines to provide at least the minimum "pain and suffering" award to all victims, regardless of collateral sources. Sincerely, Individual Comment Green Brook, NJ September 11 Email: Date The local time and date when the message was written. 2002-01-13 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 dojN001554.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. 2002-01-13