dojN002037.xml

dojN002037.xml

born-digital

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2002-01-18

Friday, January 18, 2002 4:33 PM


January 18, 2002




Re: The Interim Final Rule of the September 11th
Victim Compensation Fund of 2001



I am writing to ask for your help to correct the
inequities contained in the Department of Justices
interim final rule for the September 11th Victim
Compensation Fund of 2001. The pain my family has
experienced in this tragedy is difficult to
communicate. The loss of my husband is devastating.
I would exchange all compensation to bring back.
The interim final rule increases the already intense
pain to an even higher level. I ask you to help bring
some fairness and balance to our lives. Please give
us a reason to participate in the Fund. Please adjust
the interim final rule to provide economic and
noneconomic amounts at fair, balanced and acceptable
levels. Please establish a fair appeal process.
Please preserve workers compensation payments for
surviving victims. Finally, please include the
specific calculation formulas, statistics and
assumptions within the rule or the explanatory
materials.

The Interim Final Rule provides little incentive to
participate in the Fund because it seriously
understates our losses and undervalues the
compensation for those losses. Consequently, the
Interim Final Rule will defeat the intent of Public
Law 10742.

When Congress passed the Air Transportation Safety
And System Stabilization Act on September 22, 2001, it
severely restricted our right to sue the airlines,
which bear responsibility for our loved ones deaths
because of lax security procedures. In exchange for
denying Family Members this right, they provided the
September 11th Victim Compensation Fund of 2001. The
Fund is supposed to compensate the victims' families
for the types of losses that would have been
recoverable in a lawsuit. This includes economic
losses, such as lost income, and non-economic losses.


Non economic losses described in the law are very
broad and inclusive. They are described as 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, hedonic
damages, injury to reputation, and all other
nonpecuniary losses of any kind or nature. The
Interim Rule/Regulation also describes the intention
of the law:

The Fund is designed to provide a no-fault
alternative to tort litigation for individuals who
were physically injured or killed as a result of the
aircraft hijackings and crashes on September 11, 2001
{Interim Rule/Regulation, Summary Paragraph A.1.}.

The attached regulations have two objectives: (1) To
provide fair, predictable and consistent compensation
to the victims of September 11 and their families
throughout the life of the program; and (2) to do so
in an expedited, efficient manner without unnecessary
bureaucracy and needless demands on the victims.
{Interim Rule/Regulation, Supplementary Information.}.

The Interim Final Rule issued by the Department of
Justice (DOJ) falls far short of these stated goals
and does not comply with the statute passed by
Congress.:

a) Under the Interim Final Rule, noneconomic losses
are limited to $250,000 for my husband and $50,000 for
children and a spouse. My family would receive only
one-tenth the amount of noneconomic losses recovered
in other air crash and terrorism cases, which commonly
result in awards well into the seven-figure range.

b) The Interim Final Rule understates economic losses
in two ways: It caps the salaries of high-income
victims and underestimates the lifetime earning
potential of victims at all income levels.
Independent economists have shown the interim final
rule uses outdated and inapplicable work-life and
life-cycle earnings data to underestimate promotions
and pay increases and consequently provides low
estimates of our loved ones future earnings.

Because the initial award amounts are so low, many
families will receive little compensation from the
Fund after the collateral payment deductions have been
subtracted. There will be little reason to
participate.

To compound the unfairness, my family would have
little real opportunity to appeal the determination of
the Fund Master. A familys award may be increased
above the presumptive award only by showing
extraordinary circumstances beyond those suffered by
other victims or victims families. This makes the
hearing or appeal to the Special Master extremely
arbitrary, unclear and unfair.

In addition the proposed compensation to the spouses,
children and other innocent victims of the attacks is
out of balance when compared to the generous
compensation to the airlines. Not only did the law
cap the airlines liability at the limits of their
insurance (which saves the airlines billions of
dollars), but it also provides for direct cash
payments and loan guarantees to the airlines totaling
$15 billion. The underpayments to the spouses,
children and other loved ones suffering from this
attack will shift the cost of these airline subsidies
and liability limits to the innocent victims of the
attacks.

Please correct the inequity. Please give us a reason
to participate in the Fund. Please adjust the interim
final rule to provide economic and noneconomic amounts
at fair, balanced and acceptable levels. Please
establish a fair appeal process. Please preserve
workers compensation payments for surviving victims.
Finally, please include the specific calculation
formulas, statistics and assumptions within the rule
or the explanatory materials.

Individual Comment

2002-01-18