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. CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES Washington, DC 20575-0701 January 24, 2001 Special Master Kenneth R. Feinberg The Feinberg Group 1120 20th Street, Northwest Washington, DC 20036 Dear Special Master Feinberg: I am writing today to share the concerns of &nbsp , one of my constituents who lost her husband on September 11. I have enclosed a copy of her correspondence for your review. &nbsp husband, &nbsp , worked in the &nbsp but tragically was in the World Trade Center on September 11 and was one of the victims of the terrorist attacks. &nbsp objects to the interim final regulations governing payments under the September 11 Victim Compensation Fund. She feels that they do not conform to the language and intent of the Air Transportation Safety and System Stabilization Act, P.L. 107-42, which created the fund. Mrs. believes that the method of alculating economic damages is flawed and does not adequately compensate families for their actual economic losses. While we can do nothing to bring back lost loved ones, I am sure you agree that we can ease some of the financial burden placed on these families by these tragic events. Therefore, I would strongly urge you to take Mrs. 's concerns into account as you promulgate the final rule. Thank you for your attention to this very important matter. With best regards, I remain Sincerely, COMMENT BY: JOHN B. LARSON Member of Congress Washington, DC cc: Attorney General John Ashcroft Dear, Mr. Larson, My husband &nbsp worked for &nbsp . He was associated with the &nbsp office located in the &nbsp . &nbsp however located him at the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001 and he was one of the many victims on that day. &nbsp and I were high school sweethearts and just celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary. He has been a part of my life for the past 31 years and now I find my life altered forever. He had discussed several times with me how you held a consulting position with the firm prior to your election to Congress. He had nothing but good things to say. I hope this email finds its way to you. 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's liability for the September 11 crashes at the limits of their insurance coverage. Because of this cap, the damage caused by the crashes greatly exceed 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 sure the airlines Congress set up the fund to ensure that the airline bailout would not come at the expense of the victim's 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 proved non-economic damages 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 earning for victims. If 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 bast 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 a 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 your concerns 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. Sincerely, Individual Comment Marlborough, CT September 11 Email: Date The local time and date when the message was written. 2001-01-24 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 dojP000622.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. 2001-01-24