1011 20 70359 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. Thursday, December 20, 2001 1:42 PM Partners December 20, 2001 Dear Mr. Kenneth Zwick, I write as a member of Amnesty International, a worldwide human rights movement committed to ensuring respect for the basic human rights of people without discrimination, in support of equal access to benefits under the September 11 Victims Relief Fund for all victims, regardless of sexual orientation or marital status. As you know, the United States has committed to uphold international human rights standards, including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which prohibit arbitrary discrimination. As you consider rules for administering the relief fund, I ask that you apply basic international human rights standards, and the general principle of equality, by including among relatives eligible for compensation those who lost their life partners, as well as de facto parents or children, without regard to sexual orientation or marital status. The State of New York has already adopted such a policy, granting compensation benefits "on a showing of mutual interdependence with the victim, in recognition that anyone who shared with the victim living expenses, day to day activities and the emotional bonds of family deserves help in this time of need." Many lesbian and gay people were killed in the September 11th attacks. Since then, lesbian and gay surviving partners of those killed have had mixed results in obtaining equal treatment at the local level in the distribution of relief funds by private and state agencies. An inclusive policy on the part of the federal government would help establish an important principle for other such funds. In compensating victims, real justice will be served only when all families - and all types of families - impacted by the human rights tragedy of September 11 are treated with dignity and equality. Thank you for considering my concerns. I look forward to hearing from you about your efforts to ensure that all surviving victims of the September 11 attacks have equal access to the relief fund. Sincerely, Individual Comment Anaheim, CA September 11 Email: Date The local time and date when the message was written. 2001-12-20 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 dojA004510.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. 2001-12-20 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. December 13, 2001 Special Master Kenneth R. Feinberg September 11th Victim Compensation Fund U.S. Department of Justice 950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW Washington, DC 20530 To Mr. Feinberg: I am writing to urge you to ensure fair treatment for all surviving families of the tragedy on September 11th, including the children and families of low-wage workers and gay and lesbian families. Under traditional rules based on lost wages, the survivors of a bond trader earning millions of dollars per year might receive thousands of times as much compensation as the survivors of a dishwasher in one of the restaurants destroyed. Justice requires looking far beyond the last paycheck to the inherent worth of all those killed, so that a high minimum compensation level is set to lessen the disparities. It would be a double blow to the survivors to first lose their loved one and then watch as most of the taxpayer money went to those who were already well off in the first place. The second major issue has to do with recognizing the legitimacy of gay and lesbian relationships and families. Gay and lesbian families are especially vulnerable when one partner is killed. Because the option of marriage is unavailable, these families may find themselves in the traumatic predicament of having to prove that their union is legitimate. Fortunately, both the Red Cross and the State of New York have already announced that they will not discriminate against gay and lesbian families. The Department of Justice should do the same. Thank you for considering my comments. I look forward to hearing how you will act on these very important issues. Sincerely, Individual Comment Denver, CO September 11 Email: Date The local time and date when the message was written. 2001-12-13 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 dojA001940.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. 2001-12-13 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. Tuesday, December 04, 2001 9:37 PM Gay Victims Please don't discriminate against Gay's, Lesbians, Bisexuals and Transgenders who lost a significant other in the Sept 11th tragedy. Thank you Individual Comment September 11 Email: Date The local time and date when the message was written. 2001-12-04 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 dojA000591.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. 2001-12-04 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. December 13, 2001 Special Master Kenneth R. Feinberg September 11th Victim Compensation Fund U.S. Department of Justice 950 Pennsylvania Avenue NW Washington, DC 20530 To Mr. Feinberg: I am writing to urge you to ensure fair treatment for all surviving families of the tragedy on September 11th, including the children and families of low-wage workers and gay and lesbian families. Under traditional rules based on lost wages, the survivors of a bond trader earning millions of dollars per year might receive thousands of times as much compensation as the survivors of a dishwasher in one of the restaurants destroyed. Justice requires looking far beyond the last paycheck to the inherent worth of all those killed, so that a high minimum compensation level is set to lessen the disparities. It would be a double blow to the survivors to first lose their loved one and then watch as most of the taxpayer money went to those who were already well off in the first place. The second major issue has to do with recognizing the legitimacy of gay and lesbian relationships and families. Gay and lesbian families are especially vulnerable when one partner is killed. Because the option of marriage is unavailable, these families may find themselves in the traumatic predicament of having to prove that their union is legitimate. Fortunately, both the Red Cross and the State of New York have already announced that they will not discriminate against gay and lesbian families. The Department of Justice should do the same. Thank you for considering my comments. I look forward to hearing how you will act on these very important issues. Sincerely, Individual Comment Minneapolis,MN September 11 Email: Date The local time and date when the message was written. 2001-12-13 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 dojA004696.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. 2001-12-13 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. Monday, March 18, 2002 1:20 PM 9/11 $ Attachment 1: ALL CITIZENS, STRAIGHT, GAY, DISABLED OR WHAT HAVE YOU, SHOULD AND MUST RECEIVE BENEFITS FROM THE 911 FUND. THERE IS ABSOLUTELY NO PLACE FOR DISCRIMINATION IN THIS GREAT COUNTRY OF OURS. IT SHOULD NOT AND WILL NOT BE TOLERATED. GAY AMERICANS SHOULD HAVE THE SAME BASIC CIVIL RIGHTS AS ALL OTHER AMERICANS. OUR FAMILIES ARE JUST AS IMPORTANT AS ANYH STRAIGHT FAMILY, IF NOT MORE SO. GAY HOLY UNIONS SHOULD BE RECOGNIZED ALSO, THEN THE DISCRIMIATION THAT IS GOING ON WITH THE 911 FUND WOULD NOT BE GOING ON RIGHT NOW. THIS IS 2002, AND IT IS TIME ALL AMERICANS HAD THE SAME RIGHTS. IT IS AN INNJUSTICE WHEN YOU GIVE ILLEGAL ALIENS RIGHTS OVER OUR OWN BORN AND BREED AMERICAN CITIZENS! THIS IS AN OUTRAGE. WAKE UP Individual Comment September 11 Email: Date The local time and date when the message was written. 2002-03-18 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 dojR001927.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. 2002-03-18 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 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. Monday, January 14, 2002 9:38 AM comments 1. You need to allow separate claims for divorced families separate from the victims new spouse. The current spouse is recipient of much and the previous family very little. It will interfere with the payout of the children from first marriage if the new spouse is on the claim. Under these circumstances you need to allow a second claim for the first family which in most cases had the longer relationship to the victim anyway. 2. You need to be cognizant of the new spouse receiving millions and the children of first marriage with little compensation. You need to do deductions for equality. Individual Comment White Plains, NY September 11 Email: Date The local time and date when the message was written. 2002-01-14 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 dojN001579.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. 2002-01-14 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. Thursday, March 21, 2002 10:13 AM 9/11 Fund Discrimination I think it is absolutely horrible and appalling that fetuses and illegal immigrants are getting more priority from the 9/11 Fund than partners of gays and lesbians affected by 9/11. There were many gay and lesbian heroes who died for our country that day: , one of the three men who rushed the hijackers on flight 93; , who lost his life while giving last rites to a fireman. Yet you are telling these people that they are NOT equal in this country by denying them what they are entitled to from this fund. That makes you no better than the Taliban themselves. I thought this country was going to change after 9/11, that it was going to try to be a better, open place. Thank you for proving that discrimination and hatred is still alive and well within our own borders... Individual Comment Lakewood, OH September 11 Email: Date The local time and date when the message was written. 2002-03-21 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 dojR002492.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. 2002-03-21 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 Mr. Kenneth L. Zwick, Director Office of Management Programs U.S. Department of Justice Civil Division Main Building, Room 3140 950 Pennyslvania Avenue, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20530 Dear Mr. Zwick The Justice Department has requested comments with respect to the Interim Final Rules ("IFR's") which were put in place on December 21, 2001 regarding the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund Act of 2001. ("the Fund"). Unless otherwise noted, the comments that follow have not been adopted as the policy of the American Bar Association (ABA) or any of its entities and should be considered as observations which the Attorney General of the Untited States, the Department of Justice and the Special Master may wish to consider as part of their review of the IFR's that have been drafted. There is much to be praised in the initial regulatory efforts of the Justice Deparment and the Special Master. It is unquestionable that significant time, effort and energy were expended in drafting these IFR's and that volumes of information were thoroughly examined and considered by the Special Master and the Justice Department; good intentions shine through. The clear intent of Congress and the President in passing the Fund Program was to assure that the vicitms and families of the outrages of September 11, 2001 promptly receive full economic and non-economic compensation of their losses. The IFR's fulfill that obligation in many respects. For example, not one penny of the more than $1.4 billion charitable contributions dontated by millions of Americans will be deducted for vicitm's compensation. However, it appears that parts of the IFR's, as presented, conflict with the intentions of Congress in enacting and passing the Fund program. Additionally, various aspects of the regulations are ambiguous or present other difficulties. These matters are addressed in detail below. Limitations on Damages are Inconsistent with the Congressional Mandate First and foremost, the IFR's suggest certain caps or presumptive limits on compensation. In Section 402 of the Fund, Congress defined both the "economic" and the "noneconomic" losses to be compensated by the Fund. Nowhere in the Act was there any mention of caps or limitations on compensation. Instead, it appeared that in passing the Fund program, Congress intended to provide the vicitms of the September 11, 2001 outrages with compensation consistent with that which might have been awarded in tort proceedings. The Act was a means of allowing the vicitms to avoid the delays that would have resulted from litigation while at the same time, removing the uncertainty and risk attendant to litigation. In exchange for proceeding under the Act, the vicitms were required to give up their right to sue in court, abandon any claim for punitive damages and accept a variety of other procedural restrictions. Congress never made any mention of limitations on economic and/or noneconomic damages. Several comments made by the Special Master, in his Statement of December 20, 2001, raise concerns about the fixing and/or limitation of damages. For example, in his comments, the Special Master stated: We have concluded that the purpose of the Act is not simply to examine economic and noneconomic harm, but also to provide compensation that is just and appropriate in light of claimants' individual circumstances. We have concluded that any methodology that does nothing more than attempt to replicate a theoretically possible future income stream would lead to awards that would be insufficient relative to the needs of some vicitms' families, and excessive relative to the needs of others. The statute specifies that individual circumstances beyond economic and noneconomic harm should be taken into account. It is our view that, absent extraordinary circumstances, award in excess of $3 million, tax-free, will rarely be appropriate in light of individual needs and resources. This imposition of an apparent cap on economic damages is an unauthorized exercise of power in the part of the Special Master. The Statement creates an arbitrary, pre-determined notion of what the outer limits of an award should be. Unquestionably, that was not the intent of the Congress in creating the Fund program. Rather the Fund was intended to establish a process that entitles each claimant to a hearing where he/she can present evidence and witnesses if he/she desires to do so. The fundamental premise behind having a hearing is to allow each claim be analyzed on an individual, case-by-case basis. Only through individual review can "just" and "appropriate" compensation be accomplished. As the ABA previously stated, a pre-determined grid or matrix of awards will defeat the function and purpose of the Act. Similarly, arbitrary limitations on economic damages will have the same effect and will erode the confidence of the public in the Fund program's ability to provide full and fair compensation and due process protection. Additionally, while refernce is made in the IFR's to the possibility of exceeding the presumed limitation of $3 million, when "extraordianry circumstances" are presented, the term "extraordianry circumstances" is not defined. Therefore, there is no predictability, and potential claimants cannot make an informed decision on wheter to waive their fundamental right to file a lawsuit and proceed under the Fund program. On the issue of noneconomic damages, the IFR's are even more restrictive than the SPecial Master's remarks regading economic damages. More specifically, with respect to noneconomic damages, the Special Master states: ...the Special Master and the Deparment have concluded that the most rational and just way to approach the imponderable task of placing a dollar amount upon the pain, emotional suffering, loss of enjoyment of life, and mental anguish suffered by the thousands of victims of the September 11 attacks is to assess the noneconomic losses fo rcategories of claimants. The most obvious distinction is between those who died and those who suffered physical injury but survived. The regulations therefore set a presumed award for noneconomic losses sustained. For those vicitms who died as a result of the September 11 aircraft crashes, the presumed noneconomic losses will be $250,000, plus an additional $50,000 for the spouse and each dependent of the deceased victim. These pre-determined limitations on both economic and noneconomic damages cast doubt on the individualized decision-making goals of the Fund program and abandon any effort to adhere to the individualized, claim-by-claim system envionsed and intended by Congress. It appears that the Special Master has substituted his views about what is a "just" award, and "appropriate" compensation before any evidence has been put before him from a single Claimant. Moreover, this presumptive award does not take into account variables such as the ages of the spouse and/or dependent(s) of an individual who died in the September 11, 2001 events. Further doubt is cast on whether the individualized decision making goals of the Fund program will be met under the IFR's because of the following comment: Claimants should not expect awards grossly in excess of the highest awards listed on the Special Master's presumed award chart, as the individual circumstances of the wealthiest and highest-income claimants will often indicate that multi-million dollar awards out of the public coffers are not necessary to provide them with a strong economic foundation from which to rebuild their lives. Moreover, the employment of the range of limitations set out in the IFR;s defeats the Special Master's own first objective which is to create a process that is "efficient, straight foward and understandable to the claimants." There can be no understanding where there are no standards (unless the presumptive limits are not presumptive and binding.) There can be nothing straight foward if presumptions are on-again, off-again tools. Additionally, the caps on damages and presumed awards don not conform with the intent of Congress. Instead of allowing a real evidentiary hearing at which evidence can be aired, without prejudgement, and damages can be fixed by hearing officers well versed in such matters, as was suggested in the ABA's earlier comments, the IFR's are filled with presumptions and caps on damages which were never envisioned by Congress in enacting the Fund program. This cuts across the grain of fair and just compensation. Although the ABA appreciates the fact that the IFR's do not impose an absolute cap, but instead a presumptive cap on pain and suffering awards, we are disappointed that there is a presumptive cap. By use of this presumptive cap and by subtracting collateral sources from the awards, seriously injured persons who are in most need of pain and suffering awards will recieve less than full compensation for the harm caused them to while less seriously injured persons may receive full compensation for their injuries. We believe that the nation recognizes that the injuries caused by pain and suffering as a result of the September 11 tragedy should be fully compensated and especially so for those most seiously impacted. In addtion to the above comments with respect to economic and noneconmic damges, the IFR's present a number of other issues which warrant further review and consideration. Rescue Workers Receive no Benefits Under Current IFR's The IFR's suggest that "rescue workers" (an undefined term) should receive special benefits. Almost everyone would applaud providing special and generous benefits to the heroic rescue workers at the World Trade Center and Pentagon; however, a careful review of the IFR's as they exist, leaves the rescue workers with nothing but an empty promise. Due to existing compensation programs and the Special Master's interpretation of the collateral source deduction requirement, virtually no uniformed safety or rescue workers will qualify for any benefits whether the window of qualifications under the IFR's is held open for 96 hours or 20 years. By making collateral source deductions apply against all losses, both economic and noneconomic, the Special Master had excluded virtually all rescue workers (at least those in government employ) from benefits because their collateral payment will generally exceed any award the Special Master might otherwise make. Only if, as the ABA has urged, noneconomic damages are excluded from collateral source deduction will the heroic uniformed rescue workers have any reasonable prospect of recovering significant amounts from the Fund. It is a grave error that such individuals have, in reality, been excluded from the Fund. They will certainly recover their economic losses without the intervention of the Fund. If policemen, firemen, EMS workers, etc. are to be compensated for noneconomic loss, the present approach to the collateral source deductions must be changed. Noneconomic Loss of Those Physically Injured The Special Master has suggested in his "Statement" that it ["may be] appropriate to give some percentage of the noneconomic loss award given for victims who died" to those who were physically injured. Those who have suffered truly serious injury and survived will have far more long-lasting pain and suffering, disfigurement, etc. than those who died. To suggest that these living victims should receive smaller awards does not seem logical whether you look at it from a common sense perspective, on the basis of well-established tort principles, or in light of the apparent intentions of Congress (as set forth in its expansive definition of noneconomic loss). This issue must be further reviewed in order to assure that fair and reasonable compensation is provided to living victms consistent with the evidence unique to each claimant. Collateral Sources Deductions from Pain and Suffering Awards The ABA is pleased that the Special Master chose not to deduct charitable sources as a collateral source, for all of the reasons we set forth in our earlier comments. The ABA also believes, however, that it is equally inappropriate to deduct from pain and suffering awards collateral sources from such things as life insurance, etc. Pain and suffering awards are entirely different than awards for economic losses. They are meant to be a salve for those who suffer and are scarred physically or emotionally. They are not meant to substitute for economic losses. It is therefore inconsistent with the purpose of providing pain and suffering awards to deduct collateral sources from these awards. If we could find another way to try to make up for the pain and suffering that occurred, we would, but know of no other way to begin to try and make up for it except through the use of money to compensate for these losses. The pain and suffering award tells the victim that we understand something of what he or she went through and want to make up it as best we can. If we deduct collateral sources from the awards, we are undercutting that purpose and adding salt to the wounds. Waiver of Claims to Receive Immediate Advance Appears Coercive Requiring waiver of claims in order to receive the immediate advance payment of $25,000 or $50,000 is unduly harsh on the most needy and vulnerable victims of September 11. At a minimum, claimants in need of such immediate relief should have the opportunity to complete an "undertaking" to repay the funds and rescind their waiver within the period in which the Victim Compensation Fund is active. We recognize that some poor claimants may not be able to make this repayment, but believe that is a small cost to absorb in order to relieve the potentically coercive nature of this provision of the IFR's. The rationale for this is discussed in detail below. In his Statement introducing the Interim Final Rule, the Special Master recognizes the importance of claimants being empowered "to enter the program - or choose not to enter the program - with an understanding of how their claims will be treated. This is especially important because the Act provides that, upon submission of a claim, a claimant waives the right to file a civil action for damages sustained as a result of the September 11 attacks." The structure of the IFR's waiver provision is problematic. The IfR's as currently drafted, create the possibility of cliamants waiving their legal right to file a civil action without receiving any benefit. At the very least, the IFR's should establish that claimants who are found ineligible by the Special Master have not waived any of their legal rights to file a civil action for damages sustained as a result of the September 11 attacks. It must be clarified what the impact of the IFR's office of an immediate advance payment of $50,000 in cases involving death, or $25,000 in certain cases involving serious physical injury will be. While it is appreciated that this provision is intended to help those most desperately in need of financial assistance, there is concern about the potentially coercive consequences of such a provision. In order to receive this immediate financial assistance, claimants have to permanently waive their right to file a lawsuit for damages sustained as a result of the September 11 outrages. While claimants who are financially secure may have the luxury of declining this offer of assistance, in exchange for having more time to weigh their options, financially desperate individuals may feel that they have no choice but to apply for this advance payment, regardless of whether or not that decision will best serve their long-term interests. As a result, this provision appears coercive to the most vulnerable segment of the population, the very segment it was designed to assist. Hearing Offices Cannot Become Adversaries of Cliamants at Hearings The fraud detection and interrogation functions should be distinct and separate from the work of Hearing Officers. The present IFR's are exceedingly vague on this point and appear to suggest that the Special master may use any and all of his designees, including Hearing Officers, to cross-examine claimants and to probe for fraud. Abuse must be eliminated, but this must not be part of the Hearing Officer's job. Instead, any such probing should be part of the assignment and duties of other specifically designated officials. Any other approach will inevitably leave a bitter taste in the mouths of the Claimants and will undermine the legitimacy of the function of Hearing Officers and the process, itself. This would erode public confidence and trust in the program's ability to offer full and fair compensation and due process protection. Inevitably, the Fund program will be scrutinized by numerous bodies, including various governmental agencies, public interest groups and the media. One can only imagine the backlash that will result if the Hearing Officers are perceived as the adversaries of the Cliamants at the hearing stage. In order to maintain the integrity of the system, fraud detection and interrogation functions must be distinct and separate from the work of Hearing Officers. Adversarial friction is likely to be fostered because of the previously discussed limitations on economic and/or noneconomic damages. Having an arbitrary limitation on economic and/or noneconomic damages will result in the perception that the Hearing Officer is an adversary to the claimant as opposed to an unbiased, neutral decision-maker, who is working to award fair and reasonable compensation based on the evidence presented. This perception will obviate the trust and faith in the integrity of the system. Attorney's Fees The ABA continues to support the propossition that all Claimants should be instructed to seek legal counsel if they so desire and should be referred to pro bono services that may be available. In the event that a claimant chooses to retain counsel instead of utilizing the available pro bono services, it is incumbent on the Special Master to make sure that fee arrangements are written in plain language that clearly identifies the basis on which a fee is to be calculated so that the victims and their families have an understanding of what the fee arrangements are. Schedules or Statistical Methodologies The ABA maintains, as urged in the ABA Task Force on Terrorism's pervious submission, that schedules and statistical methodologies should not be developed and used. The intent of Congress in establishing the Fund program was to create a process that entitles each claimant to a hearing at which he/she can present evidence and withnesses if he/she desires to do so. This requires that each claim be analyzed on and individual case-by-case basis. The pre-determined schedules and charts that have been created defeat the purpose and function of the Act; moreover, having schedules and charts in place is likely to erode public confidence in the program's ability to offer full and fair compensation and due process protection for the same reasons discussed above relating to the limitations and caps on damages. The proposed pre-determined chart do not promote the goal of fairness and individualized claims receiving reasonable awards consistent with the evidence that is unique to each claimant. Instead, they give the perception that the Fund program is a take it or leave it proposition. This was certainly not the intent of the Congress in passing this legislation. As previously stated, there is no doubt that the Justice Department and the Special Master put forth extensive effort in creating these IFR'S. However, the IFR's must be consistent with the Congressional mandate, and the letter and spirit of the law must be honored. Respectfully submitted, Comment by: The American Bar Association 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 dojN002444.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 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. December 13, 2001 Special Master Kenneth R. Feinberg September 11th Victim Compensation Fund U.S. Department of Justice 950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW Washington, DC 20530 To Mr. Feinberg: I am writing to urge you to ensure fair treatment for all surviving families of the tragedy on September 11th, including the children and families of low-wage workers and gay and lesbian families. Under traditional rules based on lost wages, the survivors of a bond trader earning millions of dollars per year might receive thousands of times as much compensation as the survivors of a dishwasher in one of the restaurants destroyed. Justice requires looking far beyond the last paycheck to the inherent worth of all those killed, so that a high minimum compensation level is set to lessen the disparities. It would be a double blow to the survivors to first lose their loved one and then watch as most of the taxpayer money went to those who were already well off in the first place. The second major issue has to do with recognizing the legitimacy of gay and lesbian relationships and families. Gay and lesbian families are especially vulnerable when one partner is killed. Because the option of marriage is unavailable, these families may find themselves in the traumatic predicament of having to prove that their union is legitimate. Fortunately, both the Red Cross and the State of New York have already announced that they will not discriminate against gay and lesbian families. The Department of Justice should do the same. Thank you for considering my comments. I look forward to hearing how you will act on these very important issues. Sincerely, Individual Comment Madison, WI September 11 Email: Date The local time and date when the message was written. 2001-12-13 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 dojA002277.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. 2001-12-13 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. Monday, March 11, 2002 7:02 PM sept 11th fund Concerning your offices stance on compensation to gay and lesbian partners and loved one's left in survivorship. I suggest you rethink your current agenda. This will only serve to further polarize American society. Gay men and lesbian women served and died on September 11th 2001. They continue to serve, any administrations attempts to disenfranchise any member of the American society will have the opposite affect as intended. This is 2002 not 1962, time to let entrenched homophobia and the base need to allot a subservient class to any group go the way of racism and ignorance. This government has to include all of it's people in it's representation. A Government that does not represent all of the people represents none of it's people. Individual Comment September 11 Email: Date The local time and date when the message was written. 2002-03-11 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 dojR000290.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. 2002-03-11 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 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, December 21, 2001 11:25 AM relief fund December 21, 2001 Dear Mr. Kenneth Zwick, I write as a member of Amnesty International, a worldwide human rights movement committed to ensuring respect for the basic human rights of people without discrimination, in support of equal access to benefits under the September 11 Victims Relief Fund for all victims, regardless of sexual orientation or marital status. As you know, the United States has committed to uphold international human rights standards, including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which prohibit arbitrary discrimination. As you consider rules for administering the relief fund, I ask that you apply basic international human rights standards, and the general principle of equality, by including among relatives eligible for compensation those who lost their life partners, as well as de facto parents or children, without regard to sexual orientation or marital status. The State of New York has already adopted such a policy, granting compensation benefits "on a showing of mutual interdependence with the victim, in recognition that anyone who shared with the victim living expenses, day to day activities and the emotional bonds of family deserves help in this time of need." Many lesbian and gay people were killed in the September 11th attacks. Since then, lesbian and gay surviving partners of those killed have had mixed results in obtaining equal treatment at the local level in the distribution of relief funds by private and state agencies. An inclusive policy on the part of the federal government would help establish an important principle for other such funds. In compensating victims, real justice will be served only when all families - and all types of families - impacted by the human rights tragedy of September 11 are treated with dignity and equality. Thank you for considering my concerns. I look forward to hearing from you about your efforts to ensure that all surviving victims of the September 11 attacks have equal access to the relief fund. Sincerely, Individual Comment Philadelphia, PA September 11 Email: Date The local time and date when the message was written. 2001-12-21 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 dojN000416.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. 2001-12-21 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. Wednesday, December 19, 2001 6:16 PM equal rights December 19, 2001 Dear Mr. Kenneth Zwick, I write as a member of Amnesty International, a worldwide human rights movement committed to ensuring respect for the basic human rights of people without discrimination, in support of equal access to benefits under the September 11 Victims Relief Fund for all victims, regardless of sexual orientation or marital status. As you know, the United States has committed to uphold international human rights standards, including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which prohibit arbitrary discrimination. As you consider rules for administering the relief fund, I ask that you apply basic international human rights standards, and the general principle of equality, by including among relatives eligible for compensation those who lost their life partners, as well as de facto parents or children, without regard to sexual orientation or marital status. The State of New York has already adopted such a policy, granting compensation benefits "on a showing of mutual interdependence with the victim, in recognition that anyone who shared with the victim living expenses, day to day activities and the emotional bonds of family deserves help in this time of need." Many lesbian and gay people were killed in the September 11th attacks. Since then, lesbian and gay surviving partners of those killed have had mixed results in obtaining equal treatment at the local level in the distribution of relief funds by private and state agencies. An inclusive policy on the part of the federal government would help establish an important principle for other such funds. In compensating victims, real justice will be served only when all families - and all types of families - impacted by the human rights tragedy of September 11 are treated with dignity and equality. Thank you for considering my concerns. I look forward to hearing from you about your efforts to ensure that all surviving victims of the September 11 attacks have equal access to the relief fund. Sincerely, Individual Comment harrisburg , pa September 11 Email: Date The local time and date when the message was written. 2001-12-19 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 dojA003614.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. 2001-12-19 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. Wednesday, December 19, 2001 11:03 AM Please Protect the Rights of Lesbian and Gay Couples December 19, 2001 Dear Mr. Kenneth Zwick, I write as a member of Amnesty International, a worldwide human rights movement committed to ensuring respect for the basic human rights of people without discrimination, in support of equal access to benefits under the September 11 Victims Relief Fund for all victims, regardless of sexual orientation or marital status. As you know, the United States has committed to uphold international human rights standards, including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which prohibit arbitrary discrimination. As you consider rules for administering the relief fund, I ask that you apply basic international human rights standards, and the general principle of equality, by including among relatives eligible for compensation those who lost their life partners, as well as de facto parents or children, without regard to sexual orientation or marital status. The State of New York has already adopted such a policy, granting compensation benefits "on a showing of mutual interdependence with the victim, in recognition that anyone who shared with the victim living expenses, day to day activities and the emotional bonds of family deserves help in this time of need." Many lesbian and gay people were killed in the September 11th attacks. Since then, lesbian and gay surviving partners of those killed have had mixed results in obtaining equal treatment at the local level in the distribution of relief funds by private and state agencies. An inclusive policy on the part of the federal government would help establish an important principle for other such funds. In compensating victims, real justice will be served only when all families - and all types of families - impacted by the human rights tragedy of September 11 are treated with dignity and equality. Thank you for considering my concerns. I look forward to hearing from you about your efforts to ensure that all surviving victims of the September 11 attacks have equal access to the relief fund. Sincerely, Individual Comment NY, NY September 11 Email: Date The local time and date when the message was written. 2001-12-19 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 dojA003046.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. 2001-12-19 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 24, 2002 VIA FACSIMILE (301-519-5956) Kenneth L. Zwick Office of Management Programs U.S. Department of Justice Civil Division Main Building, Room 3140 950 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20530 Re: September 11th Victim Compensation Fund of 2001 The Association of the Bar of the City of New York submits these comments in response to the Request for Public Comment, published on December 20,2001, relating to the Interim Final Rule implementing the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund of 2001. The comments presented below are informed by the general approach and policy set forth in the Statement by the Special Master, which accompanied publication of the Interim Final Rule. In their statement, the Special Master has set forth the two objectives embodied in the Interim Final Rule: "(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 the unnecessary bureaucracy and needless demands on the victims," Statement, p. 2. We concur with these objectives, and our comments on the Interim Final Rule are intended to further their purpose. I. Claimant Eligibility A. The Need For Predictability In his Statement, the Special Master has emphasized the importance "that claimants be able to enter the program- or choose not to enter the program--with an understanding of how their claims will be treated. This is especially important because the Act provides that, upon submission of a claim, a claimant waives the right to file a civil action for damages sustained as a result of the September 11 attacks," Statement, p. 9. This Statement recognizes that claimants must be able to assess with certainty their eligibility in order to make an informed election between participating in the Fund or pursuing litigation. They should not be put in a position of waiving their rights to sue, only later to be told they were not eligible to receive an award from the Fund. Certain procedures established by the Interim Final Rules should be clarified to avoid this potential unfairness in determining eligibility. First, Interim Final Rule 104.21(a) should specify that a claim is not deemed submitted, thereby waiving litigation rights, until it is determined that the claimant is eligible, and not merely when it is determined that "the Eligibility Form is substantially complete..." Second, as drafted Interim Final Rule 104.52 ("Distribution of Awards to Decedent's Beneficiaries") would seem to authorize the Special Master to reverse a prior finding of eligibility at the conclusion of the proceeding before him, also an unfair result unless the claimant's right to sue is preserved. This Rule states than, "[n]otwithstanding any other provision of these regulations or any other provision of state law, in the event the Special Master concludes that the Personal Representative's plan for distribution does not appropriately compensate the victim's spouse, children, or other relatives, the Special Master Representative of the decedent or as the executor or administrator of the decedent's will or estate." Inter Final Rule 104.4(a)(1). There may be some situations, such as where all of a deceased victim's property is held in joint names with a survivor, where, but for the need to apply for an award under the Act, it would not be necessary for the victim's estate to apply to a court for the appointment of a personal representative. Similarly, if the deceased victim was a domiciliary of a civil law jurisdiction, the appointment of a personal representative may not be required. In such situations, if the Special Master is satisfied that all of the beneficiaries who would share in an award under the law applicable to the disposition of the victim's estate are adult and competent, the regulation should provide for the Special Master to recognize as the personal representative the person designated in writing by all of such adult competent beneficiaries. An application for recognition under such provision should be made under oath and require (a) representations (i) that the deceased victim left no will, (ii) that specified persons are the persons who would be entitled to share in an award under the law applicable to the administration of the victim's estate (iii) that all of the victim's creditors have either been paid or that their payment has been provided for, and (iv) that all beneficiaries have consented to the proposed distribution plan and to the designation of the personal representative, (b) a family tree of the victim sufficient to identify the lineage of the persons who would be entitled to share in an award and (c) a proposed plan for the distribution of the award. The personal representative receiving an award pursuant to this provision should be required to acknowledge that it was received in a fiduciary capacity to be distributed pursuant to the plan and that distribution other than pursuant to the plan will subject the personal representative to criminal prosecution for conversion of U.S. Government funds. may feel that they have no choice but to apply for this advance payment, regardless of whether that decision would best serve their long-term interests. As a result, this program may be coercive to the most vulnerable segment of the population - the very segment that it was designed to assist. We recommend that claimants in need of immediate financial relief should have the opportunity to complete an "undertaking" to repay the funds and to rescind their waiver during the period in which the Fund is active. We recognize that some claimants may not have the resources to make this repayment, but we believe that the risk of nonpayment is a small cost to absorb in order to relieve the potentially coercive nature of this provision. In sum, we recommend that claimants who are found to be ineligible to participate in the Fund, or whose awards are disallowed by the Special Master's distribution plan, should not be deemed to have waived their right to litigate. We suggest that the regulations permit claimants to retain their rights to sue (1) the Special Master determines them to be ineligible to participate in the Fund, or (2) they do not receive an award under the distribution plan approved by the Special Master, or (3) they repay any advance award and rescind their litigation waivers. B. "Physical Harm" and "Immediate Aftermath" We take issue with the Interim Final Rule's artificially restrictive definition of eligible claimants who have suffered "physical harm" as a direct result of the terrorist-related airplane crashes. The Interim Final Rule narrowly defines the term "physical harm" to mean "a physical injury to the body that was treated by a medical professional within 24 hours of the injury having been sustained or within 24 hours of rescue; and (i) [r]equired hospitalization as an in-patient for a least 24 hours; or (ii) [c]aused, either, temporarily or permanently, partial or total physical disability, incapacity or disfigurement." Interim Final Rule 104.2(c). In addition, the Interim Final Rule requires that "the physical injury must be verified by contemporaneous medical records created by or at the direction of the medical professional who provided the medical care" within that initial 24-hour period. Interim Final Rule 104.2(c)(2). This 24-hour restriction unfairly denied eligibility to those who suffered physical injury as a direct result of the September 11 attacks, but who did not seek immediate treatment within 24 hours, or who were treated at triage centers that did not maintain contemporaneous medical records. As written, the arbitrarily rigid Interim Final Rule would disallow the claim of someone who sought medical treatment 25 hours after the crashes, or who was treated at a site where no medical records were created. Persons who the Special Master finds have sustained physical injury, such as respiratory illness, as a direct result of the terrorist attacks should be eligible for an award from the Fund, even if they did not seek medical treatment in the first 24 hours after the attacks, or their injury did not manifest itself during those first 24 hours. With respect to manifestation, awards should be available to compensate for injuries which manifested themselves by the date when the claimant completes his or her application seeking an award from the Fund. this is fully consistent with the Statement by the Special Master in which he clearly inferred that the Fund should compensate for latent harm that "fully manifest[s] itself within the statutory time period for this Fund." (Statement, p. 6). The Special Master also should permit claims for physical injury based upon any competent evidence submitted by the claimant tending to prove that his or her injury was the direct result of the terrorist-related airplane crashes. Such evidence may include contemporaneous medical records, but it should not be limited to those records only. The Interim Final Rule's definition of the term "immediate aftermath" as applied to rescue workers, namely "the period form the crashes until 96 hours after the crashes" (104.2(b)), is also unreasonably narrow. Rescue worker who were injured while assisting in efforts to search for, and recover, victims during the period in which the Fund. There should be no arbitrary 96-hour limitation on the injuries eligible for an award. C. Evidentiary Basis For Determining Who is a "Dependent" or a "Spouse" We disagree with Interim Final Rule to th extent that, for the purpose of determining the amount of an award, it limits (with narrow exceptions) eligible "dependents" and "spouse[s] of victims to those persons identified on the victims' federal tax returns for the year 2000, Interim Rule 104.3(b) and (c). Although a federal tax return is certainly evidence of dependency or marriage, if is not the only competent evidence of such status. Further, the tax laws impose limits on the classification of dependents, and on the obligation to file tax returns, that bear no relationship to the purposes of the Fund and are inappropriate to determining the amount of an award, it limits (with narrow exceptions) eligible "dependents" and "spouse[s]" of victims to those persons identified on the victims' federal tax returns for the year 2000. Interim Rule 104.3(b) and (c). Although a federal tax return is certainly evidence of dependency or marriage, it is not the only competent evidence of such status. Further, the tax laws impose limits on the classification of dependents, and on the obligation to file tax returns, that bear no relationship to the purpose of the Fund and are inappropriate to a determination of entitlement under the Act. See IRF 152(a) (qualifications for claiming dependent on return, including that the dependent not exceed a minimum income threshold and receive more than half of his or her total support form the taxpayer); and 6012 (minimum income threshold required income tax returns, that omission should not deprive their survivors form receiving the compensation intended by Congress. The restrictions of dependents and spouses to those claimed as such on federal tax returns also seems inconsistent with the provision of the Act theat awards take into account "the individual circumstances fo the claimant" Act 405 (b)(1)(B)(ii). Accordingly, we urge that the basic regulations clarify that the Special Master should receive and consider any competent evidence of dependency or marriage, including marriage certificates, birth certificates, financial documentation, relevant court order and credible sworn testimony. D. Eligibility of Undocumented Aliens We agree with the Interim Final Rule's inclusion of undocumented aliens injured in the terrorist attacks or the families of those who were killed as participants in the program. However, no provision is made in the rule to protect the information on immigration status that is currently required to be supplied in the claim forms. The Eligibility Form proposed by the Special Master is written in such a way that any undocumented alien would be legitimately concerned that the information provided to the Special Master could be used against the claimant by INS or other government agencies for immigration purposes. The Eligibility Form requires information on the victims's country of citizenship, and the victim's representative to authorize (1) "the U.S. Department of Justice to obtain any information relating to [the] claim under the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund of 2001..."; (2)"the U.S. Department of Justice to disclose any records or information relating to [the] Compensation Fund claim, to the extent necessary for its review, verification, and adjudication, to: agency contracts assisting in the administration of the Compensation Fund; other federal, state, or local agencies, including the Department of the Treasury; and other individuals or entities having information related to the claim..."; (3) "the release of information relating to [the] claim, where such information indicates a violation or potential violation of law...to any civil or criminal la enforcement authority or other appropriate agency charged with responsibility of investigating or prosecuting such a violation"; and (4) "individuals having information pertinent to [the] claim to release such information to a duly accredited representative of the Department of Justice during the review of [the] claim to Compensation Fund, regardless of any previous agreement to the contrary....This authorization is valid for five (5) years from the date signed or [the claimant's] written termination whichever is sooner," These provisions put undocumented aliens who file claims against the Fund at serious risk of deportation or other proceedings arising out of their immigration status. Likewise, their former employers may be unwilling to cooperate with such claimants or the Special Master for fear that they will have legal exposure. The final rules should make plain that undocumented aliens may proceed with their claims, and their former employers provide evidence supporting their claims, without fear that the INS or other government agencies will acquire or use such information for immigration or law enforcement purposes. II. Distribution of the Fund Awards In the Statement by the Special Master published as a preface to the Interim Final Rule, the Special Master noted that the Interim Final Rule referred to state law to determine the identity of the Personal Representative and stated, "[n]or would it be advisable for the Special Master to step in and supplant state court practice or the testamentary intent of decedents." Statement, p. 8. We agree with this approach, but feel constrained to point out, that is not clear how state law will be applied in the context of the Interim Final Rule, especially with respect to the distribution of awards. Section 405(c)(3)(B) of the Act provides that submission of a claim under the Act constitutes a waiver of the claimant's right to be a party to an action for "damages sustained as a result of the events of September 11. Although technically "claimant" refers to an individual who was injured or killed, the Interim Final Rule clearly contemplates that, will respect to an individual who was killed in the terrorist attacks, the filing of a claim under the Act constitutes a waiver by all persons who might have an interest in such damages. See Interim Final Rule 104.4(b) (requiring notice of claims made against the Fund to be given to, among others, "any other persons who may reasonably be expected to assert an interest in an award or to have a cause of action to recover damages relating to the wrongful death of the decedent"; 104.21(b)(1)(The Special Master "may require that the claimant certify that he or she has dismissed any pending lawsuit...and that there is no pending lawsuit brought by a dependent, spouse, or beneficiary or the victim") Under New York State law, tort damages in respect of a deceased victim fall into two categories: first damages for the victim's conscious pain and suffering, which are payable to the victim's estate and therefore will be disposed of under the victim's Will or in accordance with the rules of intestacy if the victim died without a Will; and, second damages for wrongful death, which are payable to the victim's distributees within the meaning of that who would inherit under the rules of intestacy). Any award from the Fund should be distributed among those persons who would have an interest in damages recovered as a result of the victim's death under State law, See Act, 402(5) (defining "economic loss" to mean "any pecuniary loss resulting form harm...to the extent recovery for such loss is allowed under applicable State law"). The Interim Final Rule then goes on to authorize the Special Master to modify any proposed plan for distribution if the Special Master" concludes that...it does not appropriately compensate the victim's spouse, children, or other relatives." Id. Distributing an award form the Fund to either a larger or a smaller class than permitted under state law open the doors to many possible disputes and complexities. It should be done, if at all, only as a narrow exception to expand the class, so as to avoid a substantial hardship faced by a person to whom a decedent who died without a ill contributed material financial support and who therefore suffered financially as a result of the decedent's death. We see a justification for such an exception because, as the average age of those who died in the World Trade Center tragedy is only a little over 30 years, at least some may not yet have provided for these relationships in a will. We urge, accordingly, that Interim Final 104.52 be clarified as not otherwise authorizes departures from state law (or, if applicable, foreign law) with respect to the distributions of awards. Interim Final Rule 104.3(a) defines "beneficiary" as " a person entitled under the laws of the decedents' domicile to receive payment or benefits form the estate of or on behalf of the decedents on whose behalf the claim to the Fund was filed." It is respectfully submitted that "beneficiary" should be defined as "a person who, under applicable State law, would have an interest in damages payable on account of the decedent's pain and suffering of the decedent's wrong not be entitle to share in the damages on account of the decedents's pain and suffering. We believe that the State courts are the appropriate forum in which to resolve questions about the allocation of an award among those that would be entitled to receive it, given that such questions are indeed, "fact-intensive and time-consuming." Statement, p.8. Consequently, we recommend that the personal representative, who has responsibility for filing a claim against the Fund on behalf of a deceased individual, should in the vast majority of cases be the "individual appointed by a court of competent jurisdiction as the Personal Representative of the decedent or as the executor or administrator of the decedent's will or estate." Interim Final Rule 104.4(a)(1). There may be some situations, such as where all of deceased victim's property is held in joint names with a survivor, where, but for the need to apply to a court for the appointment of a personal representative. Similarly, if the deceased victim was domiciliary of a civil law jurisdiction, the appointment of a personal representative may not be required. In such situations, if the Special Master is satisfied that all of the beneficiaries who would share in an award under the law applicable to the disposition of the victim's estate are adult and competent, the regulations should provide for the Special Master to recognize as the personal representative the person designated in writing by all of such adult competent beneficiaries. An application for recognition under such provision should be made under oath, and require (a) representations (i) that the deceased victim left no will, (ii) that specified persons are the persons who would be entitled to share in an award under the law applicable to the administration of the victim's estate (iii) that all of the victims' creditors have either been paid or theat their payment has been provided for, and (iv) that all beneficiaries have consented to the proposed distribution plan and to the designation of the personal representative, (b) a family tree of the victim sufficient to identify the lineage of the persons who would be entitled to share in an award pursuant to this provision should be required to acknowledge that it was received in a fiduciary capacity to be distributed pursuant to the plan and that distribution other than pursuant to the plan will subject the personal representative to criminal prosecution for conversion of U.S. Government funds. We object to Interim Final Rule 104.4(a)(2) in that it would permit the Special Master to name as a personal representative a person named as an executor in a purported Will without the validity of that Will having been established in Court. We also object to the provision that would permit the Special Master to designate "the first person in the line of succession" as the personal representative, without all persons who might share in the award first agreeing to such designation, because we do not believe that the notice provisions of Interim Final Rule 104.4(b) and (c) and (d) provide adequate protection to the potential beneficiaries. Where minors or incapacitated persons are involved as potential beneficiaries of an award, the State law rules that would be applicable to an adjudication as to the disposition of a recovery for wrongful death or personal injury should be equally applicable to the dispositions of an award under the Act. The Special Master should work closely with the Surrogate's Courts in affected jurisdictions to streamline procedures for administering the estates of those September 11 victims, particularly those requiring a Public Administrator or the appointment of a qualified third party as an administrator. One possibility is to create an administrative unit within the Surrogate's Courts or within the Office of the Public Administrator that would be dedicated to September 11 victims whose families are potential claimants to the Fund. In addition, where kinship proceedings are deemed necessary, consideration should be given to accepting evidence, such as affidavits form uninterested third parties who knew the decedent, in lieu of full-blown investigations in foreign locations, which could consume months and cost thousands of dollars. Moreover, the cost of any kinship proceeding necessary to distribute an award from the Fund should be paid out the Fund, not out of the award. Finally, the Final Rule should provide a mechanism to permit the filing of a claim and the granting of an award if an administrator has not been appointed by the Surrogate's Court as of December 21, 2003, due to extended kinship proceedings or other delays inherent in the appointment of an administrator, with the award to be held in escrow until the proceeding can be completed. Interim Final Rule 104.4(b) requires notice before filing a claim to the following persons: "The immediate family of the decedent (including, but not limited to, the decedent's spouse, former spouses, children, other dependents, and parents), to the executor, administrator, and beneficiaries of the decedent's will, and to any other persons who may reasonably be expected to assert an interest in an award or to have a cause of action to recover damages relating to the wrongful death of the decedent." In situations where a personal representative has been appointed by a Court, and is authorized by State court proceeding in which the personal representative was appointed to all persons who would have a right under State law to recover tort damages relating to the decedent's death, and so a second notice to such persons pursuant to the Final Rule would be superfluous. We submit that only such persons should be entitled to distribution form the Fund, since distributions to others would be inconsistent with provisions of the Act that require waiver of State law rights and would raise constitutional issues. If our position is adopted, there will be no occasion for notice to any other persons. With respect to the few situations (in our contemplation) in which the State court has not appointed a personal representative, we have recommended above a procedure requiring the written consent of all beneficiaries, thus obviating any need for further notice. III. Nature and Amount of Compensation A. Applicable State Law Interim Fund Rule 104.42 states that "the Special Mater is not permitted to compensate claimants for those categories or types of losses that would not be compensible under the law of the State that would be applicable to any tort claims brought by or on behalf of the victim". Since 405(b)(2) of the Act prevents the Special Master form considering negligence or other theories of liability, it should be made clear that the Special Master will not contributory negligence, assumption of risk or other possible negligence defenses or offsets in determining the amount of an award. B. Collateral Sources Offsets The Act reduces awards by "the collateral source compensation the claimant has received or is entitled to received", Act, 402.4, 405(b)(6). Given the purpose of the Act as expressed in 403 of the Act, we believe that this term should be constructed narrowly in a manner least harmful to the victims and their families. We note that the New York collateral source rule is much more restrictive than the one provided for in the Act and specifically excludes life insurance. CPLR 4545(C). This would provide equal treatment between those victims who invested in life insurance and those who invested in other property, such as securities, which is not treated as collateral source compensation. The Interim Final Rule, consistent with Act, provides that an award "shall be reduced by all collateral source compensation, including life insurance, pension, funds, death benefit programs, and payment by federal, state or local governments related to the terrorist-related aircraft crashes of September 11, 2001." Interim Final Rule. 104.47(a) However, the Interim Final Rule goes beyond the Act in not requiring that such benefits be payable to "the claimant" who, in the case of a deceased victim, is the victim (acting through) his personal representative). Act 402(3), 405(a)(1) and 405(c)(2)(A). Accordingly, only such compensation payable to a decedent's estate should be taken into account. In addition, the amount offset should be reduced by the premiums or other payments made to maintain the life insurance (or its cash value, if greater than the premiums paid) or other benefit treated as a collateral source. Further, pension benefits payable after normal retirement age should not be offset against any Fund award, because such benefits would have been available had the deceased survivor September 11, 2001. Offsets for collateral sources compensation should take into account the fact that such compensation, unlike the Fund award, may be subject to income or estate taxes. Consider, for example, a victim with substantial pension benefits payable over a number of years. The pension benefits will be subject to income tax as they are paid, and consequently, they will represent substantially less value, dollar-for-dollar, than an award from the Fund. Alternatively, consider a victim who is domiciled in the United States and married to a non- U.S. citizens. If the victim had substantial life insurance payable to his/her spouse, some or all of the insurance proceeds may be subject to U.S. estate tax. The taxes payable on any collateral source compensation required to be offset against the Fund should be considered in determining the amount of the offset. Accordingly, we recommend that the Final Rule specify that only the after-tax value of collateral source offsets be deducted form awards. Because the Fund's purpose is to provide a no-fault alternative to tort litigation, it would be inappropriate, and potentially unconstitutional, to reduce the Fund award distributed to a claimant by the amount of life insurance/pension benefits payable to a person who is not entitled to share in the award. Consider, for example, a divorced victim who had maintained life insurance for a former spouse. Under the Interim Final Rule, the life insurance payable to the former spouse would appear to reduce the amount of any award from the Fund, although the insurance proceeds were not paid to the victim, his/her estate, or his/her distributees (i.e., the persons entitled to share in tort recovery under New York State law). We recommend that collateral source compensation be applied as an offset only against the portion of the award distributable to the recipient of the collateral source compensation. The Interim Final Rule is ambiguous as to whether charitable donations are collateral sources that must be deducted from Fund awards. Although the Interim Final Rule states that charitable donations are not collateral source compensation that would be used to reduce awards, the Rule also provides that the Special Master "may determined" that private charitable payments "constitute, in substance," collateral source payments under the Act. Interim Final Rule, 104.47(b)(2). We agree with the policy determination that charitable contributions do not constitute collateral source payment deliberately structured as a charitable donations to avoid deduction from the award, then the Rule should expressly state that intention. The Rule also should recite the criteria that the Special Master must use in making his determination. In all other cases, charitable donations should not be used to reduce awards under the Act. C. Evidence of Economic Loss Consistent with our comments on proof of physical harm, we oppose limiting the evidence required to establish economic losses to federal income tax. The Special Master should receive and consider other competent evidence of the decedent's salary/income in 1998-2000, such as W-2 forms, pay stubs, bank account statements, union contribution documentation and employer affidavits. D. Calculation of Presumptive Awards The Special Master has published on his website "Presumed Economic and Non-Economic Loss Tables," together with a general description of the factors considered in calculating the presumed economic and non-economic losses before collateral source offsets. The tables of presumptive awards are not transparent in theat they fail to show how the various factors are used to calculated an award. As such, the tables do not enable a potential claimant to estimate a presumptive award in advance of filing a claim. For example, table are providing for married victims with zero, one and two dependent children, and for single victims with zero and one dependent child. The increment in the award per dependent child, varies with the victim's compensation, but not the victim's age. It also appears to vary based upon the ages of the dependent children. The increment for the first dependent child (assumed to be 9 years old) is radically different for a single victim than it is for a married victim. Thus, for a victim earning $150,000/year, the increment in the award for one dependent child for a single victim is more than $400,000; for a married victim, the increment for the first dependent child is approximately $89,300, but the increment for the second dependent child is approximately $110,300. These disparities make any attempt to extrapolate from the published tabes perilous for victims having more dependent children or for victims with young children. The Special Master should add to his website a calculator that would permit a family to input martial status, ages of dependent children, and the victims's age and salary in order to obtain a guideline presumed award that reflects the victim's individual circumstances. At the very least, additional table and data are essential to permit families with different circumstances than those presented in the published tables to determine the presumptive awards to which they would be entitled under the Fund. E. Minimum and Maximus Awards In the Statement by the Special Master, the view is expressed that, "absent extraordinary circumstances, awards in excess of $3 million, tax-free, will rarely be appropriate in light of individual needs and resources." (Statement, p.3). Imposition of an artificial limit on awards, by reason of a claimant's other resources (not subject to collateral offset), is in conflict with the statutory provision requiring "the amount of compensation to which the claimant is entitled [to be] based on the harm to the claimant, the facts of the claim, and the individual circumstances of the claimant." Act 405(b)(1)(B)(ii). We submit the letter "individual circumstances" clause may not be construed, as the Special Master has, to permit the award of less than a claimant's actual proven loss by reason of claimant's wealth or other resources. The purpose of the Fund, as we read the statute, is to make all eligible claimants whole, and not just some claimants selected by the Special Master. The imposition of an artificial limit also is in conflict with the provisions of the act that measure recovery by what would be allowed under applicable State law. Act 402(5). If a purpose of the Act was to discourage litigation by providing a fair and reasonable alternative, the provision will have the opposite effect and encourage litigation by those most able to afford it. We urge that it be eliminated. We agree with the recent statements attributed to the Special Master, as reported in the media, that no eligible family should walk away from the Fund empty-handed. The Special Master is authorized by the Interim Final Rule to depart form the presumptive awards based upon a demonstration of extraordinary circumstances that the award methodology does not adequately address. We believe that he Special Master should use his authority to award a least $250,000 to eligible families that otherwise would receive no award a nominal award as a consequence of the collateral source adjustments. This Association stands ready to provide further assistance to the Department and the Special Master in developing and implementing the final rules for the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund of 2001. We commend the Department and the Special Maser for their efforts to date to develop fair efficient rules for administration of the Fund, and submit that adoption of our suggestions above would those efforts to fruition. Comment by Association of the Bar of the City of New York, New York, NY September 11 Email: Date The local time and date when the message was written. 2002-01-24 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 dojP000113.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. 2002-01-24 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. Tuesday, January 15, 2002 8:20 PM Justice help all terrorist victims Dear Mr. Zwick: The very humane Fund for relatives of victims of the September 11 terrorist attacks must include all relatives of all the victims. This importantly should include the partners and children of same sex unions. They suffer just as grievously for their deceased loved ones as do other survivors, and their need for assistance is just as great. Please do not give in to the importuning of callous homophobic groups and individuals who would have the Department of Justice limit compensation to survivors of heterosexual unions. They are interested in a political victory, not humane assistance. This Fund is intended for humane purposes; it is not a political statement, Mr. Zwick. Sincerely, Individual Comment September 11 Email: Date The local time and date when the message was written. 2002-01-15 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 dojN001696.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. 2002-01-15 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. Wednesday, December 19, 2001 9:46 PM Equal Access for Crisis Relief to Gay and Lesbian Partners! December 19, 2001 Dear Mr. Kenneth Zwick, I write as a member of Amnesty International, a worldwide human rights movement committed to ensuring respect for the basic human rights of people without discrimination, in support of equal access to benefits under the September 11 Victims Relief Fund for all victims, regardless of sexual orientation or marital status. As you know, the United States has committed to uphold international human rights standards, including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which prohibit arbitrary discrimination. As you consider rules for administering the relief fund, I ask that you apply basic international human rights standards, and the general principle of equality, by including among relatives eligible for compensation those who lost their life partners, as well as de facto parents or children, without regard to sexual orientation or marital status. The State of New York has already adopted such a policy, granting compensation benefits "on a showing of mutual interdependence with the victim, in recognition that anyone who shared with the victim living expenses, day to day activities and the emotional bonds of family deserves help in this time of need." Many lesbian and gay people were killed in the September 11th attacks. Since then, lesbian and gay surviving partners of those killed have had mixed results in obtaining equal treatment at the local level in the distribution of relief funds by private and state agencies. An inclusive policy on the part of the federal government would help establish an important principle for other such funds. In compensating victims, real justice will be served only when all families - and all types of families - impacted by the human rights tragedy of September 11 are treated with dignity and equality. Thank you for considering my concerns. I look forward to hearing from you about your efforts to ensure that all surviving victims of the September 11 attacks have equal access to the relief fund. Sincerely, Individual Comment Madison, WI September 11 Email: Date The local time and date when the message was written. 2001-12-19 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 dojA003844.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. 2001-12-19 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. Wednesday, March 13, 2002 6:21 PM 9/11 Mr. Feinberg and cohorts, I am an upstanding American citizen, heterosexual and professional. My father was half Cherokee and half Irish. His foremost ethnicity qualifies him, and therefore me, to be considered the TRUEST American. I am appalled at your declaration denying benefits from the 9/11 fund to those of homosexual preference. Please stop making derisive decisions! To hell with the individual state laws. This is not an intra-state issue, it is a nationwide issue. You should be ashamed to make public incidence of any action that divides or excepts people on such a prejudicial ground! This is a time when our nation needs to pull together and become one people, no exceptions. Forget the state laws. This is an issue of the whole nation, treat these people fairly. I wonder why you have made such an unfair decision, are you homophobic? or do you plan to keep the money that should go to these people for yourself? You should be ashamed of yourself, How did a bigot like you ever come to administer anything more than your personal bank account? Power in the hands of people like you is a stinking infection in this country. You make me ashamed to be an American. Individual Comment September 11 Email: Date The local time and date when the message was written. 2002-03-13 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 dojR000681.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. 2002-03-13 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. Tuesday, March 12, 2002 11:11 PM 9/11 Fund Screws Gays - IS THIS TRUE? I just read that gays and lesbians are gonna get shafted again in the disbursement of the September 11 funds for the survivors of the victims. *I* contributed to that fund, and *I* am gay. If it's not true, clear it up now. If it is, HOW DARE YOU?!? You wanna continue to play these ignorant games? Then you can return the monies that I donated. And you can return the monies that all the other gay Americans and families of gay Americans contributed. We'll use that money to take care of our own. After all this terrible incident has done to bring this country into greater cohesiveness than it has been in a long time, how DARE YOU do something like this to disrupt that cohesiveness. Do what's RIGHT, do what the people that allow you to be in office, *WE* the people of the United States of America want done. Do it NOW. *MY* vote counts, and my friends' and families' votes count too. Do what is RIGHT or we will see to it that you get voted OUT of office. Most Sincerely, Individual Comment Westminster, CO September 11 Email: Date The local time and date when the message was written. 2002-03-12 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 dojR000540.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. 2002-03-12 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. Wednesday, March 20, 2002 10:08 PM Outrage! Mr. Zwick, Please reconsider the decision to treat gay partners differently when giving out the 9/11 compensation. Gay or straight, both have suffered the loss of a loved one(s) at the hands of diabolical people. An outpouring of generosity and love are desperately needed. The money that was given to the fund was given from the heart of our people and they didn't want their meaningful contributions to be hampered by bureaucratic nonsense. I know that you would not want to harm or cause any more pain to those directly affected by the 9/11 Attack. So, do the right thing. Behave as humanely as a person should in a situation such as this. Be fair. Rise above the politics. Pay the victims equally, as the givers had intended and let God decide the rest. Individual Comment September 11 Email: Date The local time and date when the message was written. 2002-03-20 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 dojR002442.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. 2002-03-20 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, December 21, 2001 6:54 AM Help all victims of terrorist attack Dear Mr. Zwick: The very humane Fund for relatives of victims of the September 11 terrorist attacks must include all relatives of all the victims. This importantly should include the partners and children of same sex unions. They suffer just as grievously for their deceased loved ones as do other survivors, and their need for assistance is just as great. Please do not give in to the importuning of callous homophobic groups and individuals who would have the Department of Justice limit compensation to survivors of heterosexual unions. They are interested in a political victory, not humane assistance. This Fund is intended for humane purposes; it is not a political statement, Mr. Zwick. Sincerely, Individual Comment September 11 Email: Date The local time and date when the message was written. 2001-12-21 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 dojN000329.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. 2001-12-21