1019 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. Friday, December 21, 2001 6:54 AM 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. 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 dojN000324.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. Tuesday, January 15, 2002 10:38 PM Offsets, Caps, and eligibility To The Special Master, Offsets: Life insurances and pensions would not be deducted from compensation if the victims were to exercise their right to sue in a court of law. By capping the amount of liability (1.5 Billion per plane crash) our lawmakers infringed on the victim's survivors basic freedom to seek redress in a court of law and by doing so made it impractical to pursue this path. Therefore, these should offsets should be eliminated or modified greatly so that much higher awards are granted. Cap on pain & suffering: This is the greatest indignity of all is placing a very low figure on pain and loss. This is insensitive in the utmost degree. While realistically it is understandable that a figure must be established capping, this most private grief and suffering, at the paltry sum of $250,000, demeans the life of each individual who perished at Ground Zero. Again in a court of law, where no caps would have been imposed, compensation for pain and loss would have been many times greater. Eligibility: My son was engaged to a lovely young woman, &nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp , and they were to married on November 16th 2001. Her deep grief and anguish is as excruciating as our family's. Her whole world was destroyed and all her future plans for a happy life with &nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp were ruined permanently by the tragic events of 9-11. Who compensates her for her pain and loss?. Why isn't she eligible under Public Law 107-42?. Likewise domestic partners who lost their beloved mates. Why aren't they eligible?. I recommend that the Special Master ponder this question deeply, because if they are made ineligible the spirit of the law to compensate those affected by this horrible, evil attack is compromised. Our lawmakers bailed out the Airline Industry to the tune of $15 billion and by taking this action probably bolstered our economy. This was the right thing to do. Next they capped the Airlines at $6 billion. This action is questionable, as the Airlines will probably recover within the next few years. and may have been able to compensate survivors beyond this amount. Public 107-42 was probably enacted to compensate survivors for the disparities created by capping the Airlines liability but falls short of it's goal. It is time to modify the rules and regulations to correct the inequities outlined above. 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 dojN001765.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. Tuesday, January 22, 2002 6:23 PM Comments on Interim Final Rule Attachment 1: January 22, 2002 VIA ELECTRONIC MAIL (victimcomp.comments@usdoj.gov) Kenneth L. Zwick, Director Office of Management Programs Civil Division U.S. Department of Justice Main Building, Room 3140 950 Pennsylvania Avenue Washington, DC 20530 Re: September 11th Victim Compensation Fund of 2001 Dear Mr. Zwick: This letter is a submission of comments on the Interim Final Rule issued by the Attorney General, in consultation with the Special Master, on December 21, 2001 (the "Interim Rule"), to implement the "September 11th Victim Compensation Fund of 2001" (the "Fund"). The President signed the Fund into law on September 22, 2001, as Title IV of Public Law 107-42, "Air Transportation Safety and System Stabilization Act" (the "Act"). I am an attorney specializing the estate planning and estate administration who is writing on behalf of the family of a young woman from Boston, Massachusetts, who was a passenger on American Airlines Flight 11. This young womans family includes her fiancé, her mother and her father. The purpose of this submission is twofold. First, the family wishes to urge the Attorney General and Special Master to recognize the interests in the Fund of all those persons who were financially and emotionally dependent on the victims, beyond the limited class of heirs under state intestacy laws and dependents listed on income tax returns. Second, the family wishes to offer examples of situations where the treatment of collateral source payments under the Interim Rule may lead to unintended results and suggest that the types of such payments that are deducted from awards be limited to ones more in keeping with a careful reading of the Act. Before proceeding to outline the comments to the Interim Rule, I would like to review the parameters of the Fund that were set down by Congress in the provisions of the Act. Section 403 of the Act states that the purpose of the Fund is to provide compensation to any individual (or relatives of a deceased individual) who was physically injured or killed as a result of the terrorist-related aircraft crashes of September 11, 2001. Under Section 405 of the Act, a "claimant" may file a claim for compensation with the Special Master. In the case of a deceased individual, the claimant is the personal representative of the decedent. The claim form to be developed by the Special Master shall request information confirming the decedents death as a result of the terrorist-related aircraft crashes, information concerning any possible economic and noneconomic losses that the personal representative suffered as a result of such crashes, and information regarding collateral sources of compensation that the personal representative has received or is entitled to receive as a result of such crashes. The term "collateral source" is defined in Section 402 of the Act to mean all collateral sources, including life insurance, pension funds, death benefit programs, and payments by federal, state or local governments, related to the such crashes. Section 405(b) of the Act provides that the Special Master is to determine, after review of the claim submitted, the extent of the harm to the personal representative, including any economic and noneconomic losses, and the amount of compensation to which the personal representative is entitled based on the harm to the personal representative, the facts of the claim and the individual circumstances of the personal representative. The Special Master is to reduce this compensation by the collateral source compensation that the personal representative has received or is entitled to receive. Pursuant to Section 406 of the Act, the Special Master is to authorize payment to the personal representative of the amount determined to be due the personal representative. It is important to note that, in the language of the Act dealing with claimants, awards and offsets, Congress speaks of personal representatives only. A personal representative is commonly the administrator of the estate of a deceased individual who has not left a will or the executor of the estate of a deceased individual who has left a will. By dealing only with personal representatives and imposing no restrictions on the ultimate beneficiaries of the award, Congress did not exclude any class of survivors who have lost loved ones and suffered economic and noneconomic harm as a result of the terrorist-related aircraft crashes. In addition, by referring to collateral source payments to the personal representative, Congress was limiting the deductions from the award to such payments received by the personal representative only (i.e., the estate of the deceased individual) and not to such payments received by individual loved ones. Section 407 of the Act vested the Attorney General with the authority, in consultation with the Special Master, to promulgate regulations to carry out the title, including those with respect to forms, procedures for hearings, procedures for pursuing claims and other matters he deemed appropriate. The Interim Final Rule represents these regulations. We submit, however, that the Attorney General and Special Master have issued procedural rules that restrict the substantial application of the Act in ways not provided in the Act itself and offer the following comments: 1. Definitions of family. "Family" for purposes of the Fund should not be limited to those who appear as dependents on the victims tax returns and/or who are the victims heirs under state intestacy or wrongful death laws. Any term for "family" should recognize the reality of the victims life and the tremendous losses suffered by all those survivors who were financially and emotionally intertwined with the victim. The Interim Rule introduces terms that do not recognize these survivors. Section 104.3(a) of the Interim Rule defines the term "beneficiary" as a person entitled under the laws of the victims domicile to receive payments or benefits from the estate of or on behalf of the decedent. "Dependents" are defined by Section 104.3(b) as those persons so identified by the victim on her federal income tax return for the year 2000. We ask that the Special Master recognize those loved ones who were financially dependent or mutually interdependent upon the victim and include them within any term appearing in the regulations that refers to familial relationships, such as "beneficiary" and "dependents." Many of the victims who died on September 11th were young people who did not leave wills. Many were in the midst of building their lives and creating their own families and homes with fiancés or domestic partners who shared in their income and expenses along with their hopes for the future. We urge the Special Master to emulate New York Governor George Patakis Executive Order 113.3, signed on October 11, 2001, which directs the state to consider all appropriate factors in determining an eligible dependent, for purposes of these regulations. The Executive Order reads in pertinent part as follows: Such a dependent person shall be eligible for awards upon a showing of unilateral dependence or mutual interdependence upon such a victim, which may be evidenced by a nexus of factors, including but not limited to common ownership of property, common householding, shared budgeting and the length of the relationship between such person and the victim. 2. Determination of economic and noneconomic losses. In considering the individual circumstances of the claimant when determining economic and noneconomic losses as a result of the victims death, the Special Master should be required to include the financial resources and the financial needs of all survivors who were financially and emotionally intertwined with the victim. Now, Section 104.41 of the Interim Rule provides merely that the individual circumstances of the claimant may include the financial needs or the financial resources of the claimant or the decedents dependents and beneficiaries. In determining presumed economic loss, under Section 104.43 of the Interim Rule, the Special Master shall consider presumed determinations of loss of earnings and other benefits related to employment that are calculated based upon the number of dependents who survive the victim and whether there is a surviving spouse. And, in determining presumed noneconomic loss under Section 104.44 of the Interim Rules, the Special Master will determine such loss to be $250,000 plus an additional $50,000 for the spouse and each dependent of the deceased victim. The combined effect of this is that, under the Special Masters "Presumed Loss Calculation Tables Before any Collateral Offsets," the loss (before collateral offsets) for the family of a married decedent with no dependents would be presumed to be as much as $1.3 million more than a single decedent with no dependents. This means that, in the case of a young victim who considered her family to include her fiancé and her parents, who had not yet had children and who left no will, the presumed loss would be as much as $1.3 million less than if this young victim had married her fiancé prior to September 11, 2001. And the actual loss, based on individual circumstances, may be determined by the Special Master to be even less, because the Special Master is not now mandated to consider the financial needs of the fiancé but merely those of the parents, who are not likely to be financially dependent upon their child. Such a result is contrary to the true "individual circumstances" that exist in the case and more narrow than what is required by the Act. 3. Collateral source payments. Under the Act, the Special Master is to reduce the amount of compensation by the amount of the collateral source compensation the claimant (i.e., the personal representative) has received or is entitled to receive as a result of the terrorist-related aircraft crashes of September 11, 2001. The Interim Rule amplifies this by stating, in Section 104.41, that the Special Master shall reduce the amount of compensation by the amount of source compensation that the claimant "(or, in the case of a Personal Representative, the victims beneficiaries)" has received or is entitled to receive. The parenthetical added by the Interim Rule represents a significant broadening of Congress definition of collateral source payments and could serve to reduce or wipe out entirely any economic loss component of a familys award from the Fund. This treatment of collateral source payments under the Interim Rule could lead to inequitable and, at times, unduly harsh results. For example, the children of a victims first marriage could lose most of their award if the victim had chosen to leave his estate to them but benefit his second wife with substantial amounts of insurance. As another example, the surviving spouse of a decedent who had a will that left everything to her could lose most of her award because of a large life insurance policy that benefited the decedents grown children. (These results will not be uncommon, because some estate plans are designed to benefit one set of loved ones with estate assets and another set with insurance and other non-probate assets.) And, the families of victims who made no advance plans and/or chose to invest their income in the stock market will receive greater awards than the families of those victims who planned ahead and/or chose to invest their incomes in life insurance. To avoid situations such as these, the regulations should abide by the provisions of the Act and offset any awards by collateral source payments received by the victim or the victims estate only. Along the same lines, the Special Master should not have the discretion (as now given to the Special Master in Interim Rule Section 104.47(b)(2)) to determine that funds provided to victims families through a private charitable entity constitute, in substance, a payment that constitutes a collateral source. This proviso to Section 104.47(b)(2) of the Interim Rules should be removed, so that charitable donations distributed to the beneficiaries of the victims by private charitable entities will not constitute collateral source compensation. The continued existence of the proviso will leave some doubt in the minds of families who are deciding whether to proceed under the Fund or file a lawsuit. 4. Distribution of awards. Awards should be distributed among all those loved ones who can show unilateral dependence or mutual interdependence upon the victim. As Section 104.52 of the Interim Rule reads, the Personal Representative shall distribute the award in a manner consistent with the law of the decedents domicile or any applicable rulings made by a court of competent jurisdiction. If the victim died without a will, this reference to "law of [her] domicile" means that the Personal Representative would be required to distribute the entire award to the victims parents, if she left no children and no spouse. This portion of the Interim Rule would prevent the Personal Representative from paying over any amount of the award to a fiancé or domestic partner who was dependent upon the victim, regardless of a showing that the fiancé or domestic partner and the victim shared a residence, shared expenses and were otherwise financially and emotionally intertwined in a familial relationship. The Personal Representative and the victims parents may very well agree that a portion of the award should be used to compensate the fiancé or domestic partner for his or her loss, but the Interim Rule stands in the way of the parties achieving that result. We ask that the Attorney General and Special Master allow the Personal Representative to act on behalf of all of those who can show themselves to be the survivors of the victim, seeking compensation in proportion to their losses and distributing the award accordingly. Where no will exists, the awards should not be confined to the victims heirs as defined only by state intestacy law or distributees under state wrongful death statutes. This is unduly restrictive and ignores the true needs and losses of those who can demonstrate unilateral dependence or mutual interdependence upon the victim. The suggestions we offer are as follows: a. The Special Master should be authorized to direct the Personal Representative to distribute a part of the award to a dependent fiancé or domestic partner of the victim. This would be akin to Section 104.52 of the Interim Rule, which allows the Special Master, "notwithstanding any other provision of these regulations or any other provision of state law," to direct the Personal Representative to distribute all or part of the award among the victims relatives if the Special Master concludes that the Personal Representatives plan for distribution does not appropriately compensate them. b. In the alternative, the Special Master should be authorized to accept a Personal Representatives plan of distribution that includes payment of part of the award to a dependent fiancé or domestic partner of the victim. c. Otherwise, the Special Master should be required to accept any distribution of the award by the Personal Representative that is in a manner consistent with any applicable ruling made by a court of competent jurisdiction. The authority conferred on the Special Master by Section 104.52 of the Interim Rule to reject a Personal Representatives plan of distribution should not extend to such plans derived from a local court order. The Statement by the Special Master that precedes the text of the Interim Rule makes many references to the regulations reliance on state law and the Special Master should be required to observe an applicable ruling of a court of competent jurisdiction in the state of the victims domicile. d. Finally, if the current text of the Interim Rule becomes final, the loved ones of the victim who receive the award should be permitted to transfer as much of their award as they deem appropriate to loved ones of the victim who were precluded from benefiting from the Fund. Such a transfer, if made within the year of the award or the year following the award, should be free of federal estate, gift or generation-skipping transfer tax consequences. Thus, the parents of a victim who receive an award as their daughters sole heirs-at-law and who wish to benefit her fiancé with a portion of that award should be allowed to do so without a diminution of their so-called "unified credit" or applicable exclusion amount or an obligation to pay federal transfer taxes as a result. 5. Publication of awards. To assist potential claimants in evaluating their options of either filing a claim with the Special Master or filing a lawsuit in tort, the Special Master should be required to publicize the amounts of all awards granted under the Fund. Section 104.34 of the Interim Rule provides merely that the Special Master reserves the right to publicize the amounts of some or all of the awards. If the Special Master was to publish only a portion of the awards -- or none at all - potential claimants could receive a skewed picture of the distributions and be unable to evaluate their options in a fully informed way. Potential claimants, in either case, would need to understand that the published decisions, as now stated in the Interim Rule, would be intended by the Special Master as general guidelines and not as binding precedent. We are grateful for the opportunity to submit these comments and respectfully ask for full consideration of their contents. Very truly yours, Individual Comment Boston, MA September 11 Email: Date The local time and date when the message was written. 2002-01-22 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 dojN002337.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. 2002-01-22 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, April 04, 2002 10:49 PM LGBT Discrimination. This is a classic case of discrimination demonstrated in the worst possible way. Are you comensating blacks? Arabs? Chinese? or any other group? Then why not my fellow members of the LGBT society?? Individual Comment September 11 Email: Date The local time and date when the message was written. 2002-04-04 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 dojR002907.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. 2002-04-04 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 Austin, TX 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 dojA004028.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. 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 Justie 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 Miami, FL 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 dojA004732.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, January 15, 2002 10:04 AM Victims Compensation Fund January , 2002 Mr. Kenneth L. Zwick, Director Office of Management Programs Civil Division U.S. Department of Justice Main Building, Room 3140 950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW Washington, DC 20530 Dear Mr. Zwick, Re: "September 11th Victims Compensation Fund of 2001" P.L. 107-42 In the immediate aftermath of the tragic attack of September 11th upon our nation, Congress enacted the above referenced legislation to compensate the relatives of the victims of that brutal attack. As elected representatives of many of those relatives, it is our firm belief that the interim rules issued by the Special Master on December 20th fail to satisfy the letter or the spirit of the legislation which we enacted. The legislation authorized payment for economic and non-economic loss. Economic loss was defined as "any pecuniary loss? including the loss of earnings? to the extent recovery for such loss is allowed under applicable State law." (Sec. 401(5)). Non-economic loss was defined to include among other things "physical and emotional pain, suffering ? mental anguish ? and loss of consortium." (Sec. 402(5)). The sole offsets to the payment for economic and non-economic loss were the "collateral sources" specified in Sec 402(4). These included "life insurance, pension funds ? and payments by Federal State or local governments related to the attacks of September 11th." These were clearly intended to be the only offsets. In his proposed rules, however, the Special Master has imposed offsets which are in no way authorized by the statute. Specifically, he imposes arbitrary income limits and restricts pain and suffering awards to $250,000 - no matter what the extent of the pain and suffering may have been. The practical effect of these caps is to drastically reduce the award from what the statute intended. Relatives of the victims who were in the financial services sector or in the public service sector - such as police officers and firefighters - will suffer a particularly adverse effect. This is not only contrary to the legislation but also entirely unfair. The financial services victims were killed precisely because of the jobs they held. They personified American business and commerce. That is why they worked in the World Trade Center and that is why our enemies targeted them. The police and firefighters were killed carrying out the most successful rescue operation in the history of the United States. It is bad enough that these good people were victimized by bin Laden. We cannot allow their relatives to be victimized again. As Mayor Giuliani stated in his farewell address: "we have an obligation to the people who did die? Their families need to be protected just as if they had been alive, financially and in every other way that we can help and assist their families? There should be no compromise about that ever ?" The Victims Compensation Fund was created as a part of a comprehensive legislative package which bailed out the airline industry and imposed restrictions on the right of the victims' relatives to recover from the airlines in court. The Fund was established to protect the rights of the victims' relatives. The Special Master cannot take it on himself to restrict those rights. Additionally, at the time the legislation was enacted, the amount of fatalities was expected to be between 6,000 and 10, 000. The final number will be less than 3,500. This will result in a significant reduction in the expected expenditures and makes the Special Master's false economies even less defensible. We request therefore that the interim rules be amended and redefined to the extent that income caps be removed when computing economic loss and that each victim's case be addressed separately when computing the non-economic loss attributable to pain and suffering. Mr. Feinberg has arbitrarily restricted the non-economic awards for pain and suffering, no matter what the extent of the pain and suffering. This is unacceptable. In the words of Congressman Peter King, "every death is tragic. A murder is particularly tragic. But to have your love one murdered in a burning building in full view of the world - in a scene which will be repeated in the media for decades to come - is a horror these families will never escape from. The Special Master cannot take it upon himself to restrict the rights of the families." Therefore, we request that the interim rules be amended to more appropriately compensate the victims' families' for the immeasurable pain and suffering endured by our loved ones. As Mayor Giuliani stated in his farewell address: "we have an obligation to the people who did died?Their families need to be protected just as if they had been alive, financially and every other way that we can help and assist their familiesS?There should be no compromise about that ever" We request that the interim rules be amended and that compensation for pain and suffering more accurately reflect that horror which was suffered. Justice demands no less. 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 dojN001617.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. Thursday, December 20, 2001 10:53 PM Pain is the Same for All 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 Oshkosh , WI 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 dojN000165.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. Wednesday, December 12, 2001 10:30 AM de facto relatives I lost my only brother in the WTC on 9/11. I am the beneficiary of his estate. My brother was engaged for one month and lived with his girlfriend for less then one year. I DO NOT agree with "De Facto" relatives getting any benefits from the Victim's Compensation Fund. This fund is for Legal Relatives only. Sincerely, Individual Comment September 11 Email: Date The local time and date when the message was written. 2001-12-12 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 dojA001502.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. 2001-12-12 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. Saturday, March 16, 2002 8:48 PM 9/11 compensation to victims Hello, I strongly disagree with the decision to exclude domestic partners of the gay victims of the 9/11 tragedy from receiving compensation. Those people should receive the same compensation as the heterosexual partners of the 9/11 victims. I hope someone there will recognize before it is too late how discriminatory this is, and change this policy to include gay life partners. Thank you. Individual Comment Kirkland, WA September 11 Email: Date The local time and date when the message was written. 2002-03-16 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 dojR001234.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. 2002-03-16 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 Springfield, OR 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 dojA004179.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. Wednesday, December 05, 2001 9:18 PM Ensure Compensation to ALL Victims' Families!! Dear Mr. Zwick: I am writing in response to the Department's request for public comments regarding the forthcoming regulations for implementing and administering the "September 11 Victim Compensation Fund." I strongly urge the Department to draft regulations that ensure compensation is available to all victims of the attack, including the committed partners and the non-biological children of gay and lesbian victims. It is unquestionable that the devastating grief and economic losses suffered by the families of gay and lesbian victims are no less than that of other families. Just as the terrorists drew no lines in choosing their victims, our country must draw no lines in compensating those who suffered the most personal of losses from these horrific attacks. Many Americans lost their lives on September 11, each of whom left behind loved ones. I urge the Department to honor these bonds by treating the families of gay and lesbian victims as you would any other. Sincerely, Individual Comment Columbia, MD September 11 Email: Date The local time and date when the message was written. 2001-12-05 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 dojA001045.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. 2001-12-05 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 8:52 AM Gay and lebian compensation I think ALL "long-term companions" or "common-law" partners of 9-11 victims should be compensated. Especially since most of society prevents a legal union for gays and lesbians, an easily verifiable relationship of long standing ought to be recognized. Individual Comment Jersey City, NJ 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 dojR000581.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. Sunday, December 02, 2001 9:12 PM Victim Compensation Dear Mr. Zwick, We urge you to include among relatives eligible for compensation for terrorist attacks those who lost their life partners or de facto parents or children, regardless of sexual orientation or marital status. Thank you. Individual Comment Walnut Creek, CA September 11 Email: Date The local time and date when the message was written. 2001-12-02 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 dojA000262.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. 2001-12-02 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 13, 2001 3:07 PM Administration of the 9/11 Victim's Fund 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 Emeryville, CA 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 dojA001563.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. January 10, 2002 VIA ELECTRONIC MAIL AND FEDERAL EXPRESS Mr. Kenneth L. Zwick Director, Office of Management Programs Civil Division United States Department of Justice Main Building, Room 3140 950 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20530-0001 Re: September 11th Victim Compensation Fund 2001 Dear Mr. Zwick: The following are our comments with respect to the regulations promulgated by the Department of Justice on December 20, 2001 concerning the administration of the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund of 2001 (the "fund"). As will be demonstrated herein, the regulations, as presently written, are in direct contradiction and violation of the statute. The statute required that claimants receive compensation for economic and non-economic losses as specifically delineated in the statute. Simply put, the regulations are a betrayal to the families who have suffered enormously as a result of the tragic events of September 11th and they must be rewritten to conform to the statute. In addition, some of our comments are preliminary as we have requested in writing additional information from Kenneth R. Feinberg, Esq., Special Master to the Fund, concerning the formula and criteria used to calculate economic loss under the presumptive award guidelines. We have also requested that he provide us with the factors that were considered in determining the presumptive awards for non-economic loss. To date, we have not received a response to our inquiries. See letters dated December 27, 2001, January 4, 2002 and January 8, 2002 collectively attached as Exhibit "A". As will be set forth below, the regulations are in direct contradiction to the statute which created the Fund. Accordingly, they must be rewritten so as to promote the purpose and intent of the statute, which is to provide compensation for the economic and non-economic losses suffered by each claimant based upon the individual facts and circumstances of each claim. As currently written, the regulations group together different cases and award like amounts based simply upon minimal demographic information, i.e., age, earnings, marital status and number of dependents. The pre-determined and presumptive awards, by definition. do not account for the individual facts of each claim and, therefore, this approach must be discarded in favor of a process that will allow awards to be based upon the actual damages of the claimant without any pre-determined limits or caps. This approach is precisely what the statute calls for; the statute does not allow the Department of Justice and/or the Special Master to limit or cap awards. As such, the present regulations are contrary to the law. See Act, at Section 405 (b). The Act specifically defines the recoverable elements of economic and non-economic loss. Under the Act, economic loss is defined as: ANY PECUNIARY LOSS RESULTING FROM THE HARM; including, LOSS OF EARNINGS; or OTHER BENEFITS RELATING TO EMPLOYMENT; MEDICAL EXPENSE LOSS; LOSS DUE TO DEATH; BURIAL COSTS; and LOSS OF BUSINESS OR EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES; to the extent that the foregoing losses are allowed under applicable State law. See Act, at 402 (5). Nothing whatsoever in the Act allows the determination of economic loss to be limited to a pre-determined or presumptive amount. Moreover, no potentially applicable state allows for the calculation of economic loss to be based upon pre-determined, presumptive or "capped" income. Rather, the calculation of economic losses must be based upon the decedent's actual economic circumstances. Id. ECONOMIC LOSS As set forth above, the Act requires the Special Master to calculate the extent of the economic harm suffered by the claimant. Id. The parameters for economic harm are contained within the statute itself and leave no discretion to the Department of Justice and/or the Special Master to limit same in any fashion. See Act, at Section 402 (5). Had congress intended to impose a limit on economic loss, it would have simply said so in the Act. The regulations which address the calculation of economic loss violate the express terms of the Act in a number of respects. First, the regulations state that for purposes of the Special Master's analysis in determining economic loss, the maximum amount of yearly income that will be recognized for computation of an award are earnings up to but not beyond the 98th percentile of individual income in the United States for the year 2000 or $231,000.00.1 See 28 CFR Section 104.43. This limitation or "cap" on earnings has no support or justification within the Act. The statute does not permit economic losses to be limited in the manner prescribed in the regulations and, as such, the regulations contradict the statute. Moreover, the Department of Justice and/or the Special Master do not cite any authority from the statute to allow a limitation of annual earnings to this arbitrary and pre-determined figure, nor do they cite to any statute which permits an economic analysis to be limited in the manner set forth in the regulations. Accordingly, the regulations must be rewritten to allow for the recovery of full economic loss based upon the actual earnings of the decedent. Contrary to the statement published by the Special Master, the Determination of economic loss based upon actual earnings is not a theoretical analysis based upon mere speculation. Rather, it is an analysis done in courtrooms every day across this country and it is what is required when evaluating economic loss. Second, the regulations set forth pre-determined and presumptive awards for economic loss, but fail to set forth the manner in which the economic loss was calculated. For example, the regulations attempt to establish pre-determined awards based upon income, age, marital status and dependents. The economic loss calculations are purportedly based upon a number of economic criteria including gross earnings, retirement age, tax rate, reduction of the award to present value using an unknown discount rate, as well as a reduction of the award based upon the personal consumption of the decedent, yet no consumption rate is contained within the regulations. Also, the regulations are silent as to the manner in which each of the foregoing criteria were utilized in the calculation of the pre-determined and presumptive awards for economic losses. As previously indicated, my office has sent a number of letters to the Special Master requesting the precise manner in which a claimant's economic losses were calculated, including the formula and factors considered in this analysis. Regrettably, the Special Master has not yet responded to our inquiries and, as such, it is impossible to comment on the manner in which these figures were calculated. When, and if, we receive the requested information, we will provide additional comment. Moreover, the Act requires that the analysis for economic losses be determined by the individual circumstances of the claimant. The publication of pre-determined and presumptive guidelines, by definition, do not take into account the individual circumstances of a claimant. The career path of a particular claimant, average wage increases within that claimant's industry, average wage increases given by the claimant's employer, individual consumption rates, individual habits of savings, and the value of household services contributed by the decedent are all essential elements of any analysis. The generalized grouping together of cases based upon minimal demographic criteria is contrary to the statue. As a result, the pre-determined presumptive awards for economic losses to be calculated in each individual case based upon the facts of the claim. Third, the factors utilized by the Department of Justice and/or the Special Master take into account only "certain employer benefits (such as premiums for medical coverage paid by the employer)". See Presumed Economic and Non-Economic Loss Tables, II (A) at Step One, 28 CFR § 104. The regulations with respect to the calculation of economic loss apparently omit other elements of significant employee compensation such as pension benefits paid by the employer, contributions by the employer to retirement programs, stock option grants, etc. Contrary to the statute, the Department of Justice and/or the Special Master have simply omitted these significant elements of employee compensation from their pre-determined and presumptive calculation of economic loss. Therefore, the regulations must be rewritten so that economic losses include these significant elements of compensation. NON-ECONOMIC LOSS The Act defines the elements of non-economic loss as follows: LOSSES FOR PHYSICAL AND EMOTIONAL PAIN; SUFFERING INCONVENIENCE; PHYSICAL IMPAIRMENT; MENTAL ANGUISH; DISFIGUREMENT; LOSS OF ENJOYMENT OF LIFE; LOSS OF SOCIETY AND COMPANIONSHIP; LOSS OF CONSORTIUM (not domestic services); HEDONIC DAMAGES; INJURY TO REPUTATION, and ALL OTHER NON-PECUNIARY LOSSES OF ANY KIND OR NATURE. See Act, at § 402(7). As with economic losses, the Act does not limit or cap the recovery of non-economic losses to a pre-determined or presumptive amount. Instead, the Act required that the award for such losses shall be based upon the individual circumstances of the claimant, the facts of the claim and the harm to the claimant. See Act, at Sec. 405 (b). As set forth above, pursuant to the terms of the Act, the Special Master is required to make an award for all elements of non-economic losses. Nothing in the statute allows the Special Master to place a pre-determined amount upon any of these statutorily prescribed elements of recovery. Contrary to the express language of the statute, however, the regulations impose a pre- determined, presumptive and arbitrary value upon non-economic losses, i.e., $250,000 for the pre-death pain and suffering of the decedent, and the spouse and dependents of the decedent shall each receive the total sum of $50,000 in compensation for their above describes losses. See 28 CFR § 104.44. This approach to the valuation of non-economic losses, however, is nothing more than an arbitrary and capricious determination of the value of non-economic losses suffered by each family. Moreover, these arbitrary valuations have been decided upon without the Special Master hearing any evidence whatsoever with respect to a particular claim. The statute sets forth various components of non-economic loss as well as allow recovery for all aspects of non-pecuniary loss of any kind whatsoever. Congress did not limit the non- economic recovery as is contained in the regulations. Rather, with respect to the determination of compensation, Congress specifically mandated that the Special Master "shall review a claim.. and determine.. the extent of the harm to the claimant, including any economic and non-economic losses". See Act, at § 405 (b)(emphasis added). Accordingly, the regulations must be rewritten to allow for non-economic losses to be based upon the individual circumstances of each claim. The regulations' reliance upon pre- determined awards for this aspect of recovery must be eliminated and the Special Master and/or an impartial hearing officer must be required to make awards based upon the specific facts of the claim. BURDEN OF PROOF As set forth in detail above, the regulations must be rewritten and the pre-determined presumptive award guidelines eliminated in favor of a system which is mandated by the statute, i.e., a determination based upon the individual facts and circumstances of each claim. As written, the regulations require that for the claimant to be successful in obtaining an award in excess of the pre-determined presumptive guidelines, he or she must demonstrate "extraordinary circumstances not adequately addressed by the presumptive award methodology," See 28 CFR Sec. 104.31(b)(2) and 28 CFR Sec. 104.33(f)(2) (emphasis added). Simply put, placing this burden upon the claimant is an utter abuse of discretion. There is no justification for this action contained in the Act and the Department of Justice's and/or the Special Master's reliance upon a claimant's showing of "extraordinary circumstances" is contrary to the direct mandate of the legislation. Moreover, the Department of Justice and/or the Special Master do not cite any statutory authority for their determination that a showing of extraordinary circumstances is necessary to obtain an award in excess of the arbitrarily pre-determined and presumptive award guidelines. Rather, they have determined that in their view, "absent extraordinary circumstances, awards in excess of $3,000,000 Dollars will rarely be appropriate in light of the individual needs and resources." See 28 CFR Sec. 104, at Statement by the Special Master (emphasis added). Contrary to the express language and mandate of the statute, the Department of Justice and the Special Master have exceeded the breadth and scope of their authority and have pre- determined that no award, prior to collateral offset, should exceed $3,000,000. This limitation has no support other than the subjective, arbitrary and capricious determination of the Department of Justice and/or the Special Master. Had Congress intended for awards not to exceed a certain sum, it simply would have said so in the Act. Moreover, nowhere in the Act does Congress state that awards should be based upon any limiting factor. Rather, the statute requires that the recovery reflect the economic and non-economic harm suffered by the claimant. Accordingly, the requirement of "extraordinary circumstances" must be stricken from the regulations. PROCESSING OF CLAIMS The regulations propose two separate tracks in which to process claims. See 28 CFR Sec. 104.31. We propose that when rewritten, the regulations add an additional track identified as "Track C". Under Track C, claimants will have the ability to submit their individual information to an independent non-political evaluator who will conduct a hearing and issue an advisory award concerning the claim. Under this scenario, the claimant will not waive any right whatsoever upon submission of the claim under Track C. This procedure conforms to the statute in that under Track C claims, the claimants will not receive an actual reward, but, rather, he or she will receive an advisory opinion as to the valuation of the claim. With respect to the hearing officers utilized to process claims under Track C, we propose that they be retired judges who are well experienced in evaluating claims of this nature. My office contacted , Vice President of located at . advised that will make available at least 100 retired judges to evaluate claims under "Track C". She further advised that would reduce their rates in light of the unique and tragic circumstances surrounding this matter. Budgetary constraints are not an issue with respect to the hiring of hearing officers as the statute specifically mandates that the Special Master has authority to hire and employ these types of hearing officers. See Act, at 404 and 406. After the issuance of an advisory award under Tack C, the claimant and the Special Master shall have ten (10) days from the date of the award to accept, reject or negotiate same. If the advisory award is accepted by both the Special Master and the claimant, the advisory award will be deemed the final award as if a claim had been submitted to the Fund. In accordance with the statute, the claimant shall then receive payment within twenty days of the award's acceptance. Should either party reject the award, the claimant shall have the ability to either file a civil lawsuit seeking damages or submit a claim under Tracks A or B. HEARING The Act states, inter alia, that each claimant shall have the right to present evidence, including the presentation of witnesses and documents, in order to establish a claim under the Fund. Act at Sec. 405(b)(4). The statute does not limit the hearing in any manner whatsoever. Contrary to the mandate of the statue, the Department of Justice and the Special Master have pre-determined that the length of the hearing shall be limited in length generally not to exceed two hours. See 14 CFR Sec. 104.33. This pre-determined hearing limit of two hours is in contravention to the express language and mandate of the statute in that this limited time will not provide the claimant with his or her due process right to present evidence as set forth in the Act. See Act, at Sec. 405 (b)(4). The ability to present evidence and testimony at a hearing becomes even more critical in light of the Department Of Justice's and /or the Special Master's requirement that a claimant establish "extraordinary circumstances" to justify a higher recovery than set forth in the presumptive guidelines. Given the tremendous burden imposed upon the claimant, it will be necessary to present as much testimony and evidence as possible in order to establish "extraordinary circumstances" to justify a recovery that differs from the presumptive guidelines. This arbitrary time limit imposed by the Department of Justice and/or the Special Master is nothing more than an attempt to curtail the claimant's ability to present such evidence and, therefore, will have the effect of limiting awards under the Fund. Had Congress intended for the hearing to be limited to a specific time, it would have set forth this time period in the Act. Moreover, the effect of this arbitrary limitation on the length of the hearing is contrary to the intent and purpose of the statute which is to provide recovery for the economic and non-economic losses suffered by the claimant. Accordingly, the two hour time limit must be discarded and the claimant be allowed as much time as necessary to present the claim. RECORD OF HEARING In all likelihood, the hearing will be conducted by a hearing officer instead of the Special Master. As such, the hearing should be recorded and the hearing officer should be required to make a written determination of the award, including identifying and detailing the information relied upon by the hearing officer in making his or her determination. If the claimant feels that the award is inappropriate for any reason whatsoever, the claimant should then have a right to file an appeal with the Special Master and the Special Master shall then be required to review the award as well as the facts considered by the hearing officer in making the award. In this fashion, since the hearing will be recorded, a claimant who chooses to appeal such a determination to the Special Master will have a basis to do so. The regulations also state that the Special Master has the right to publish some or all of the awards. See 28 CFR Sec.104.34. The regulations must require that each award along with the specific demographics of the decedent, i.e., age, marital status, number of children and dependents, earnings, occupation, etc.. be published to insure that all claimants are being treated fairly and that no "side deals" are agreed to between parties. DISTRIBUTION OF AWARD The regulations require that the Personal Representative distribute the award consistent with the law of the decedent's domicile. Notwithstanding this provision, the Special Master has the right to require the Personal Representative to distribute the award pursuant to his directive if he determines that the proposed plan for distribution does not adequately compensate the spouse, children and/or other relatives. See CFR Sec. 104.52. The statute, however, was intended to compensate relatives of a deceased individual. See Act, at Sec. 403. Since the Fund was created to provide compensation to the relatives of a decedent, the Special Master should identify in his award the specific awards for each individual eligible to share in the recovery. In this way, the Personal Representative will not have the ability and/or authority to distribute the award. Rather, the Special Master shall compensate each individual deemed eligible for the specific economic and non-economic losses that each has suffered. Certainly, each individual relative eligible to share in the award suffered different economic and non-economic damages as a result of the decedent's death. Since the Fund was established to compensate these individuals, this decision should be left to the Special Master as to the damages that each eligible individual suffered based upon the facts and circumstances of the claim. ADDITIONAL MATTERS The regulations define dependency as the spouse of the decedent and/or someone who was claimed as a dependent upon the deceased individual's 2000 federal tax return, and any child born after January 1, 2001, as well as any individual who became a legal dependent of the decedent after January 1, 2001. We believe, however, that the term dependency should not be limited to those individuals identified on the tax return, but rather, should include anyone who was financially or emotionally dependent upon the decedent. With respect to collateral sources, although the regulations state that charitable donations shall not be considered collateral sources, Special Master Feinberg has the discretion to deem private charitable payments as collateral source offsets and as such, deductions from the award. See 28 CFR Sec. 104.47(b)(2). The regulations must specifically state that all charitable payments of any kind whatsoever are not to be deemed collateral source offsets. Special Master Feinberg should not be given the discretion to determine what is in fact a charitable contribution. It is generally accepted that "collateral source" refers to contractual payments made to a claimant which compensate for economic losses. The regulations should make it clear that there shall be no collateral source deduction for payments made to the victims and/or their families outside of a contractual agreement, including, private gifts, to the victim and/or surviving family members. Lastly, under the compensation plan envisioned by the Department of Justice and/or the Special Master, it is possible for claimants who submit claims under the Fund to receive absolutely nothing. This result is more than likely for those claimants whose loved ones had the forethought to obtain life insurance policies and who have received other significant collateral source payments. The regulations should specifically set forth a minimum payment that each claimant will receive from the Fund regardless of the collateral source offsets. Certainly, the Act intended to compensate each claimant who files a claim under the Fund. Accordingly, the Act's essential purpose would not be met if a claimant was entitled to receive nothing from the Fund. Establishing a minimum award would be in the best interests of all claimants and would provide each claimant with the security of some type of recovery from the Fund. As aforementioned, it is our intention to submit additional comments once we receive responses to our repeated inquiries to the Special Master concerning the calculation of economic and non-economic losses. Very truly yours, Comment By: BAUMEISTER & SAMUELS, P.C. NEW YORK, NY MFB:cm Enclosures _____________________________________________ 1 In the presumptive award guidelines attached to the regulations, the Department of Justice and/or the Special Master state that the 98th percentile of individual income in the United States for the year 2000 equaled $231,000. December 27,2001 VIA TELECOPIER AND FEDERAL EXPRESS Kenneth R. Feinberg, Esq. The Feinberg Group, LLP New York, New York Re: September 11th Victim Compensation Fund of 2001 Dear Mr. Feinberg: I hope that you are enjoying a happy and health holiday season! I have reviewed the interim final rules that have been published concerning the administration of the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund of 2001 (the "Fund"). We are presently working on our comments to the regulations. However, in order to properly respond, certain information with respect to the presumptive calculations of economic loss are unfortunately not identified in the regulations or in the presumed loss tables. Accordingly, would you be so kind as to provide us with all of the parameters and factors utilized in the calculations of presumed economic loss, including retirement age, tax rate, actual discount value for the reduction of the award to present value as well as the consumption factor rate. Since our comments are due by January 20,2002, I would appreciate receiving this information immediately so that we can properly comment on the regulations. Thank you in advance for your courtesy and cooperation in this regard. Very truly yours, Comment by: BAUMEISTER & SAMUELS, P.C. MFB:cm cc: Kenneth R. Feinberg, Esq. The Feinberg Group, LLP Washington D.C. January 4, 2002 VIA TELECOPIER Kenneth R. Feinberg, Esq. The Feinberg Group, LLP New York, New York Re: September 11th Victim Compensation Fund of 2001 Dear Mr. Feinberg: I am writing in follow up to my telephone conversation with of your office with respect to the issues that we have raised concerning the Fund. Under the statute, there is no doubt that Congress did not place any limit or cap on the amount of recovery available to a claimant who files a claim with the Fund. Congress specifically mandated that a claimant's recovery shall include all economic and non-economic losses as defined within the statute. The regulations promulgated on December 20, 2001, however, are in direct contradiction to the statute in a number of respects. While I will not include an exhaustive list, there is no doubt that the "interim final rules" limit economic analysis in that the regulations and accompanying charts indicate that income only up to the 98th percentile of individuals wage earners in the United States for the year 2000 will be considered. There is no support whatsoever for this limitation in the statute. Also, the regulations set forth a pre-determined award for non-economic loss. This too is in contradiction to the statute which requires the harm to be determined on an individualized basis and upon individual facts. again informed me that there is no cap under the statute and that calculation of economic loss would not be limited to annual earnings of $231,000. Would you be so kind as to provide a detailed written explanation of 's statement and confirm that there will not be any limit or cap on economic losses, that the pre-determined non-economic losses as set forth in the regulations will be eliminated and that each claimant will receive full economic and non- economic losses based upon their individual facts and circumstances. The reason we need this in writing is because the regulations and your accompanying statement shift the burden of proof onto the claimant requiring the claimant to demonstrate "extraordinary circumstances" to obtain an award different than what is contained in the per- determined presumptive guidelines. Similar to the limitations that you and the Department of Justice have placed on economic and non-economic loss, requiring the claimant to meet this artificial burden is arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion and/or otherwise not in accordance with the statute that created the Fund. In the event that the "final" regulations do not eliminate this arbitrary standard, could you kindly confirm what is meant by "extraordinary circumstances" as well as your statement contained in the regulations that "[i]t is our view that, absent extraordinary circumstances, awards in excess of $3,000,000 Dollars will rarely be appropriate in light of individual needs and resources." You can certainly understand how this statement has led many of my clients to believe that contrary to the statute, you have in fact placed a limit on their recovery. Thank you in advance for your courtesy and cooperation this regard. Very truly yours, Comment by: BAUMEISTER & SAMUELS, P.C. DAL:cm cc: Washington, D.C. office January 4, 2002 VIA TELECOPIER Kenneth R. Feinberg, Esq. The Feinberg Group, LLP New York, New York Re: September 11th Victim Compensation Fund of 2001 Dear Mr. Feinberg: Thank you for having of your office contact me concerning our inquiries with respect to the September 11 Victim Compensation Fund of 2001. She also relayed to me your message that we should receive an answer to our letter of December 27, 2001 sometime next week that there would be no limit or cap under the Fund and that the economic analysis will include annual income in excess of $231,000 per annum. As you can imagine, however, a number of our clients are deeply troubled by the interim final rules relating to the administration of the Fund, including, the limit on the calculation of economic loss as contained in the regulations. As I discussed with , I continue to receive calls from a number of our clients. Would you be so kind as to contact me as soon as you are able so that I can discuss with you your statement that there will be no limit or cap with respect to the recovery under the Fund. After speaking with you, I will then be in a position to answer my clients' inquiries concerning this matter. Thank you in advance for your courtesy and cooperation in this regard. Very truly yours, Comment by: BAUMEISTER & SAMUELS, P.C. DAL:cm cc: Washington, D.C. office January 8, 2002 VIA TELECOPIER Kenneth R. Feinberg, Esq. The Feinberg Group, LLP New York, New York Re: September 11th Victim Compensation Fund of 2001 Dear Mr. Feinberg: I am writing in follow up to the various letters that I and my partner, , sent to you last week. In this regard, in my letter dated December 27, 2001, we requested the specific economic criteria utilized in the presumptive award guidelines including retirement age, tax rate, discount value, consumption rate, the value placed upon all employer benefits, including, pension benefits, stock option awards, profit sharing, employer match to 401 K programs, etc. We are also in need of all factors utilized to establish the presumptive awards for non-economic loss. We need this information immediately in order to properly submit comments to the regulations in addition to the comments that we have previously made. Furthermore, in follow up to my partner's letters dated January 4, 2002, of your office made certain representations concerning the Fund, specifically that there would be no limit or caps and that the economic analysis would include actual earnings and not be limited to earnings up to the 98th percentile of individual wage earners in the year 2000. We requested that this be put in writing so that we can share this information with our clients. We would appreciate if you could respond as soon as possible as our clients are becoming more and more upset with the regulations. Thank you in advance for your prompt attention to these matters. Very truly yours, Comment by: BAUMEISTER & SAMUELS, P.C. MFB:cm cc: Washington, D.C. office September 11 Email: Date The local time and date when the message was written. 2002-01-10 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 dojN002581.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. 2002-01-10 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, November 08, 2001 2:39 PM Comments My husband of almost 16 years was killed on the 105th floor in the WTC North Tower. He was an employee of . I have several comments about what I have read about the 9/11 settlement fund. 1. If I am not mistaken, this law was set up to protect the airlines from going under. Why should the U.S. Government care if I sue the Taliban, or anyone else, who has nothing to do with the airlines even if I sign on to the settlement? 2. I believe that a set minimum amount of money should be received by the family of each victim who lost their life on 9/11/01. This set amount, which would be revealed to us in advance, would enable me to evaluate whether or not it makes economic sense for me to sign on to this settlement. On top of the set minimum, all other factors should be considered such as: economic earnings potential of the victim, pain and suffering, loss of companionship etc. From this amount, subtractions would be made. 3. Will Social Security benefits and/or Worker's Compensation be subtracted from the settlement amount? I do not believe these monies should be subtracted. 4. Is the settlement amount taxable? 5. I do not agree that life insurance should be subtracted from the settlement amount. Will my premiums be reimbursed if life insurance is subtracted? 6. Will charitable contributions be subtracted? Individual Comment East Brunswick, NJ September 11 Email: Date The local time and date when the message was written. 2001-11-08 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 dojW000260.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. 2001-11-08 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 19, 2002 9:46 PM Potential Exclusion of Families I find it incomprensible that you are proposing to not guarantee to same sex partners & their dependents the same access to relief compensation that is going to all American citizens (and non-Americans and fetuses!) victimized by the horrible of events of Sept 11 . One of the few positive aspects of this crisis was to create a feeling of community. You are creating a wedge of divisiveness with your unfair policies. Shame on you. Individual Comment Palm Springs, CA September 11 Email: Date The local time and date when the message was written. 2002-03-19 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 dojR002273.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. 2002-03-19 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 3:11 PM provide fair treatment! 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 Morton Grove, IL 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 dojA003445.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. 9 January 2002 To our Elected Officials: In the immediate aftermath of the tragic attack of September 11th upon our nation, Congress enacted the Victims' Compensation Fund of 2001 P.L. 107-42, to compensate the relatives of the victims of that brutal attack. As you know, this Fund was enacted as part of a comprehensive package which bailed out the airlines industry and imposed restrictions on the rights of the victims' relatives to sue the airlines in court. We implore upon you, as our elected officials, to demand changes to the interim rules issued by Kenneth Feinberg, the Special Master. As it stands, Mr. Feinberg's self-imposed rules fail to satisfy the letter or the spirit of the legislation which was enacted. Specifically, we request that you act on our behalf and demand the following changes to the interim rules: 1. The arbitrary income limits imposed by the Special Master are not only unfair but also inconsistent with the letter and the spirit of the law. Those victims from the financial industry are specifically harmed by this limit. They were targeted and murdered precisely because of the jobs they held, and where they worked-the World Trade Center, the Financial Capital of the world, the embodiment of financial success. Those who achieved such success should see that reflected in their awards. They personified American Business and commerce, democracy and freedom. We ask that you demand that Mr. Feinberg lift the arbitrary income limits so that each family can be treated fairly, commensurate with the support they provided their families before their death. 2. Mr. Feinberg has arbitrarily restricted the non-economic awards for pain and suffering, no matter what the extent of the pain and suffering. This is unacceptable. In the words of Rep. Peter King, "...every death is tragic, A murder is particularly tragic. But to have your loved one murdered in a burning building in full view of the world - in a scene which will be repeated in the media for decades to come-is a horror these families will never escape from... The Special Master cannot take it upon himself to restrict the rights of the families." Therefore, we request that the interim rules be amended to more appropriately compensate the victims' families for the immeasurable pain and suffering endured by our loved ones. As Mayor Giuliani stated in his farewell address: "we have an obligation to the people who did die... Their families need to be protected just as if they had been alive, financially and every other way that we can help and assist their families...There should be no compromise about that ever..."We request that the interim rules be amended and redefined to the extent that income caps be removed when computing economic loss and that compensation for pain and suffering more accurately reflect that horror which was suffered. Justice demands no less. Sincerely, Individual Comment Bronx, New York September 11 Email: Date The local time and date when the message was written. 2002-02-04 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 dojN002563.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. 2002-02-04