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. January 18, 2002 Via Fax (301) 519-5956/First-Class Mail Kenneth L. Zwick, Director Office of Management of Programs, Civil Division U.S. Department of Justice Main Building, Room 3140 950 Pennsylvania Avenue Washington, D.C. 20530 Dear Mr. Zwick: Pursuant to the directive on the Department of Justice website, we are forwarding these comments on the interim final rule implementing Public Law 107-42. We currently represent one of the decedents who perished on American Airlines flight 11 on September 11, 2001. Initially, we commend the expeditious passage of the law and the prompt promulgation of the regulations and rules. The process involves a detailed analysis of the applicable laws and statutes, and provides the foundation for expediting recovery on behalf of many of the victims and their families. In reviewing the "interim final rule," we did note several subject areas that warranted comment and/or question in order to assist the practical implementation of the provisions of the Act: There appears to be some ambiguity in specifying when a hearing can be requested before the Special Master. In some sections, it appears that there is a presumptive right to a hearing, whereas others state that there may be a hearing, if requested. Please verify at what stages the hearing process shall take place. Based on the current rules, it appears that the filing of a claim constitutes a waiver of the right to bring a civil action. For the benefit of the Special Masters and the victims, it would be helpful to provide a preliminary screening hearing for the victim or a personal representative. This will enable them to properly evaluate the viability of their claim under the Act prior to waiving the opportunity for a third party action. The collateral source rule has come under serious scrutiny. Collateral sources now include life insurance, pension funds, death benefit programs and other government payments. Based on the financial circumstances of many victims and their families, this provision will substantially reduce and/or eliminate their eligibility for any recovery under the Act. We suggest that the collateral source rule be amended so as to provide that the first $1 million recovered from a collateral source by a victim or his/her family be immune from deduction from the overall award. Only those amounts which exceed $1 million in funds from collateral sources shall offset the award. The subject of federal and/or estate tax is not covered under the rule. The rules do state that, similar to personal injury recoveries, amounts recovered under the Act will not be subject to IRS income tax provisions. However, in order to determine the viability of filing a claim, applicants need to know whether the award they receive shall be subject to estate tax or shall be provided directly to the appropriate beneficiaries. Numerous tables were prepared with the proposed rules, including the amount of recovery for individuals who are married, with or without dependents, etc. These estimates were provided in 5-year intervals and larger intervals for annual income. There needs to be a clarification as to the treatment for those whose age falls between the 5-year intervals and income is between the included intervals. Hopefully, these comments, questions and answers shall be useful, not only for us, but for your department in amending, where appropriate, the current rules prior to commencing the filing of claims. If either of us can be of assistance to you in this regard, please feel free to contact us. Very truly yours, Individual Comment Wellesley Hills, MA September 11 Email: Date The local time and date when the message was written. 2002-01-18 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 dojN002637.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. 2002-01-18