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 20515-0801 December 26, 2001 The Honorable Kenneth Feinberg Special Master September 11th Victim Compensation Fund U.S. Department of Justice Main Building, Room 3140 950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW Washington, D.C. 20530 Dear Special Master Feinberg: Enclosed please find correspondence I received from a constituent of mine, of Wilmington, Delaware. 's father-in-law, , was a victim of the World Trade Center tragedy. In his letter, expresses his concerns regarding the intent of Public Law 107-42 which established the September 11th Victims Compensation Fund of 2001. believes that the Act will clearly provide fair compensation to many of the families who were devastated by the September 11th tragedy. However, he raises very valid points supporting his concern that for many older workers families, the Act may provide no compensation at all. As Mr. states in his letter," Many of the older workers who perished in the attacks were past their prime income earning years. Also theses older workers had fewer years left in terms of their income earning potential and reasonable life expectancy. Older workers would have typically accumulated large amounts of 'collateral sources.' Accordingly, the surviving spouses of older workers will have smaller gross awards, much larger 'collateral source' reductions, and the possibly of a net award of $0." wants to make sure that his mother-in-law is in no way discriminated by the fund for the sheer fact that her husband planned their finances wisely. The survivors of older, more successful workers life , who was about to turn 56, may not get any compensation because they have life insurance, pensions or mutual funds. I strongly believe that this fund must be administered in a fair and equal manner that best assists all those surviving families who are dealing with the pain of their tremendous loss. I am hopeful that you will look into this matter and provide your current thinking on the issue. I have also written to Attorney General Ashcroft and House Judiciary Chairman Sensenbrenner to make them aware of 's concerns. Thank you for your consideration of this issue and if you could please provide and my office with a response, it would be greatly appreciated. Thank you for your assistance. Sincerely, Michael N. Castle Member of Congress November 30, 2001 The Honorable Joseph R. Biden United States Senate 221 Russell Senate Office Building Washington, D.C. 20510 The Honorable Michael N. Castle Congress of the United States 3 Christina Center, Suite 102 201 North Walnut Street Wilmington, DE 19801 Re: H.R. 2926 September 11th Victim Compensation Fund Of 2001 Dear and : I am writing to request your assistance in seeking amendments to the Air Transportation Safety And System Stabilization Act, enacted as Title IV of Public Law 107-42 (the "Act"). As you know, my father-in-law, , was a victim of the World Trade Center tragedy. and I are doing everything we can to assist her mother in picking up the pieces after this tremendous loss. We need your help in revising the Act in order to provide and others similarly situated with fair compensation as a result of this national disaster. The Act will certainly provide fair compensation to many of the families victimized by the September 11th tragedy. For many older worker's families, however, the Act may provide not compensation at all. Many older workers were past their prime income earning years. In addition, older workers had fewer years left in terms of income earning potential and reasonable life expectancy. Finally, older workers would have typically accumulated large amounts of "collateral sources." Accordingly, the surviving spouses of older workers will have smaller gross awards, much larger "collateral source" reductions, and the possibility of a net award of $0. My father-in-law would have been 56 years old just a few weeks ago. Therefore, he would have had at least nine (9) additional years left in his working career. Assuming a reasonable life expectancy of age 74, remaining life expectancy would be eighteen (18) years. The pain and suffering, loss of companionship, loss of consortium, and related non-economic damages recoverable by would be lower because of fewer years of remaining life expectancy. Since e was a veteran of over three (3) decades on Wall Street, he had accumulated a fair amount of pension, annuity, and 401K assets. At his age, he was past his peak income earning years, as a result of the heavily bonus-based compensation system which is common on Wall Street. In short, the "collateral source" numbers for 's claim would be high relative to the average victim, while her likely "economic loss" and "non-economic loss" claims would be low compared to other victims. Accordingly, there is a possibility that the end result of 's claim will be $0. It is very disturbing and disheartening to and her family that the Act's compensation formula may very well place absolutely no value on their loss. THAT IS WHY , , AND I ARE ASKING FOR YOU TO SPONSOR LEGISLATION TO CORRECT THIS INEQUITY. New legislation is needed which would provide a surviving spouse with the option to make a claim under the Act solely for economic losses and metal anguish, with no reduction for any collateral source funds received. This would provide fair and equitable compensation for surviving spouses of older workers, who may otherwise be unjustifiably discriminated against by the Act. Allowing recovery for economic damages and mental anguish would be in line with standard damages limitations contained in most States' wrongful death statutes (See, e.g. 10 Del.C § 3724). Additionally, such an option would insure that the Act achieves its intended purpose. The purpose of the Act is "to provide compensation to ...relatives of a deceased individual...killed as a result of the terrorist-related aircraft crashes of September 11, 2001." Act at Sec. 403. The Act fails to meet its stated purpose for surviving spouses of older workers. Thus, surviving spouses like may be forced to bring lawsuits against the airlines, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, the building managers, security companies, etc. Such litigation will be time consuming and costly for all involved. Such lawsuits will also be a painful reminder of the heinous act of war which has victimized so many families. We need your help. Legislation is needed as soon as possible. Regulations intended to implement the Act must be promulgated by the Department of Justice by December 21, 2001. Please let me know if we can count on your help. Very truly yours, RLA:cth P.S. Since is a resident of Ridgewood, New Jersey, I would certainly appreciate it if your offices could forward a copy of this letter to Senators Torricelli and Corzine, as well as her local Congresswoman, Representative Marge Roukema. ________________________________________ 1 The Act calls for the Special Master to reduce any ward by the amount of collateral sources (e.g life insurance proceeds, pension benefits, and other funds received as a result of a victim's death). September 11 Email: Date The local time and date when the message was written. 2001-12-26 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 dojN002603.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. 2001-12-26