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. February 11, 2002 VIA TELEFAX AND OVERNIGHT MAIL Kenneth Feinberg, Esq. Special Master September 11th Victim Compensation Fund 780 Third Avenue, 22nd Floor New York, New York 10017 Dear Mr. Feinberg: We want to thank you and your colleagues for meeting with us and with the representative of the victims' families last week. While we were pleased by some of your comments at the meeting, other concerns remain. We were encouraged to hear that you intend to amend the Interim Final Rule in several important ways, including: (1) providing protections for undocumented aliens: (2) easing the restrictions governing proof of physical harm; (3) clarifying that no charitable contributions will be counted as collateral sources; and (4) providing flexibility so that some pension, 401(k) and other benefits may not be classified as collateral sources. In addition, although no specific commitments were made, we understand that you are still "considering" the following issues: (1) whether noneconomic damages should be excluded from collateral source reductions: (2) changing the "extraordinary circumstances" standard to overcome the presumed awards; (3) providing claimants more specific award calculations before requiring a waiver of the right to sue: and (4) finding ways to protect the interests of domestic partners, fiances and other individuals dependent upon the victims. All of these issues are of great importance to us. However, on the one issue that we spent the most time discussing - the $250,000 "presumed award" for noneconomic damages - your statements were not encouraging, and so we are submitting this letter to provide additional comments on that issue. The $250,000 cap on noneconomic damages is both inadequate and contrary to federal law. Although you stated your view that tort litigation is not an appropriate "model" for calculating noneconomic damages, that is exactly the model that Congress intended to follow. Indeed, ATSSSA defines noneconomic damages as meaning "losses for physical and emotional pain, suffering, inconvenience, physical impairment, mental anguish, disfigurement, loss of enjoyment of life, loss of society and companionship, loss of consortium (other than loss of domestic service), hedonic damages, injury to reputation, and all other nonpecuniary losses of any kind or nature." These specific types of losses are compensated in wrongful death actions, and thus wrongful death litigation provides the most appropriate comparison for calculating noneconomic damage awards. The Interim Final Rule was accompanied by commentary that the $250,000 figure is "roughly equivalent" to the amounts received under existing federal benefit programs for public safety officers and military personnel. Reliance on those programs is misplaced, however, because neither the public safety officer benefit (42 U.S.C. § 3796) nor the military death benefit (38 U.S.C. § 1967) is intended to provide full compensation for noneconomic (or economic) damages. Moreover, Congress did not adopt, or even reference, the $250,000 benefit level set forth in those statutes when ATSSSA was enacted, and instead specifically required the Special Master to calculate noneconomic damages for each claimant based upon the proof submitted at the hearing. The Department of Justice can turn to numerous sources of information in determining an appropriate level of noneconomic damages. As I am sure you are aware, settlements and jury verdicts following the crashes of Pan Am Flight 103, TWA Flight 800, Swiss Air Flight 111 and other aviation disasters included specific noneconomic damage awards far in excess of the $250,000 "presumed award" set forth in the Interim Final Rule. Existing damage award reporters provide a wealth of additional information about jury verdicts and settlements in tort actions. (Many of the settlement amounts, of course, are lower due to the uncertainties regarding proof of liability, but Congress placed no such burden on the claimants seeking awards under ATSSSA, and instead required full compensation regardless of fault.) We certainly recognize that calculating noneconomic damages is a difficult task Nevertheless, we know that you have spoken personally with many relatives of the victims, and those conversations undoubtedly demonstrated that in virtually all circumstances, the $250,000 threshold would be inadequate compensation for the victim's pain and suffering alone, which is just one of the components of the statutory noneconomic damage award. Moreover, while the task may be difficult, Congress specifically required the Special Master to determine the amount of noneconomic damages in each case. While we appreciate your reluctance to make fine distinctions among similarly-situated victims, that understandable desire to treat victims similarly does not supersede the Special Master's core responsibility to provide full compensation to all victims. Finally, we want to express our vigorous objection to the provision requiring claimants to establish " extraordinary circumstances" in order to exceed the 250,000 cap on noneconomic damages. Not only is that standard devoid of statutory support, but it also places an unnecessary and unjustifiable emotional burden on the victims' families. These bereaved family members should not be forced to worry weather they will be able to marshal sufficient proof at the hearing to meet an undefined "extraordinary circumstances" threshold, and thereby obtain compensation commensurate with their losses. Instead, the family members should be assured, in the final rule, that they will be fully compensated based upon the evidence presented at the hearing. In sum, while we were encouraged by some of your statements at last week's meeting, it is clear that more needs to be done, particularly with respect to domestic partners and fiances, the waiver of the right to sue, and the amount of noneconomic damages. On this last issue, the $250,000 presumed amount for noneconomic damages must be increased, and the "extraordinary circumstances" standard must be eliminated, so that all victims receive full compensation for the losses incurred, as Congress has required. Thank you once again for taking the time to meet with us. Sincerely, GEORGE PATAKI ELIOT SPITZER Governor Attorney General CC: Hon.John Ashcroft Paul Harris Kenneth Zwick September 11 Email: Date The local time and date when the message was written. 2002-02-11 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 dojP000545.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. 2002-02-11