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. Friday, January 18, 2002 12:06 PM Victim Compensation Fund - Plight of Fiances As an attorney assisting a fiance of a victim of the tragedy, it has been frustrating to see the degree to which our legal systems do not give sufficient recognition to the real emotional and financial losses suffered by fiances of the victims. I found it useful to review the comments to these rules submitted by fiances and while I did not do a separate search for the comments of domestic partners I am sure those comments would be similar. It is remarkable to see how the plight of the fiances is repeated in story after story. It is essential that the Special Master find a way to recognize the reality of the losses suffered -- the emotional and financial dependency of fiances is real. Narrow interpretations of the law should not frustrate the real needs of the living victims. Assuming there is room in the present regulations for a fiance to make a submission to the Special Master and to seek a share of benefits that is appropriate to her circumstances, I am concerned that the regulations do not sufficiently make that clear. If it is not clear, many of the fiances (especially the unrepresented ones) will simply not avail themselves of the opportunity to make their claim and tell their story. Under Section 104.21 (e), it appears that "any third party having an interest in a claim brought by a Personal Representative may provide written statements or information regarding the Personal Representative's claim." Further, The Special Master must approve the Personal Representative's distribution plan and may override the regulations and state law in order to ensure that the distribution plan is appropriate (Section 104.52). But the limitation that the Special Master may direct the Personal Representative to distribute the award properly among "the victim's spouse, children, or other relatives" is too restrictive. Accordingly, the regulations should be amended to make it clearer that fiances (and others suffering direct harm) may make a submission and be considered a part of an appropriate distribution plan. This will advance the objective of the Special Master, as set forth in the first paragraph of his Statement, that the Act and the regulations "are designed to bring some measure of financial relief to those most devastated by the events of September 11." Individual Comment 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 dojN001989.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