Re: The Federal Compensation Fund For Sept. 11 Victims
From: Charlie Chambers (cchamber@gorge.net)
Tue Mar 12 11:52:29 2002
Anna, I'm with you. Seems that as a society, our tonic for everything is
financial compensation. Somewhere along the line, we've gotten our
priorities all asunder.
On Tuesday, March 12, 2002, at 10:31 AM, Anna Meenan, MD wrote:
> I'm sorry, but I'm just sick of all this fighting over money. What
> happened on 9/11 was horrible and I feel terrible for the families, but
> the fact is that what happened could not have been prevented, the
> airlines were not negligent, and if the government is willing to give
> the families millions, fighting about just exactly how many millions is
> petty. The government is not obligated to do anything, but since they
> are, I would expect nothing more than enough to live a reasonably
> comfortable life and send my kids to college. If I had enough life
> insurance to assure that (which I do), I would expect NOTHING from the
> government.
> The Oklahoma city victims and families and the victims and families of
> Embassy bombings are now suing for their share of the pie. It's one
> major can of worms now.
>
> I hope anyone who decides to sue rather than accept the government
> settlement ends up tied up in court for years and losing half of
> whatever they get to the lawyers.(biting my tongue)
>
> Anna Meenan, MD
>
> At Mon, 11 Mar 2002, Dean Huffman wrote:
>>
>> Below is an example of what the government can do if it wants to.
>> Although
>> participating in the federal compensation fund is voluntary, the
>> government
>> could have just as easily made it mandatory. They made participation
>> in the
>> vaccination compensation act mandatory.
>>
>> - - - -
>>
>> The federal compensation fund for Sept. 11 victims announced final
>> rules
>> Thursday that its administrator said will give many families hundreds
>> of
>> thousands of dollars more than previous offers.
>>
>> But some of those who lost loved ones are dissatisfied.
>>
>> Kenneth Feinberg, who oversees the Justice Department (news - web
>> sites)
>> fund, made changes amid complaints that payout formulas were too low.
>> Feinberg said Thursday that the awards, which will be tax-free, will
>> now
>> average $1.85 million. That is an increase of $200,000 from payouts he
>> proposed in December. Life insurance and pensions will be deducted
>> from the
>> payouts; charitable contributions will be exempt.
>>
>> Under the new proposal:
>>
>> * Payments for economic loss, which compensate for income the victim
>> would
>> have earned, were liberalized. In tables based on age, income and
>> family
>> size, the spouse of a $225,000-a-year executive with two young
>> children,
>> for example, would get $4.5 million before deductions. The offer in
>> December was $3.8 million.
>>
>> * In compensation for losses beyond income, such as the loss of
>> companionship, each surviving spouse and child will receive $100,000,
>> double the earlier figure. Feinberg made no change in the flat $250,000
>> that every family receives.
>>
>> * Worker compensation and Social Security (news - web sites) spousal
>> benefits won't be counted as the "collateral payments" that Congress
>> required the Justice Department to offset against awards. But life
>> insurance and other deductions still could result in no federal
>> compensation for the wealthiest families.
>>
>> The attacks caused about 3,000 deaths and nearly 1,000 injuries. The
>> final
>> rules for the fund, created as a no-fault alternative to suing
>> airlines,
>> make more injured persons eligible for compensation. The interim rules
>> denied payment unless someone had been treated by a doctor within 24
>> hours
>> of the attacks. Now the interval can be up to 72 hours. Rescue workers
>> may
>> have no time limit.
>>
>> "The time for comment and debate is over," Feinberg said.
>>
>> But Steve Push, treasurer of Families of Sept. 11, says it's ''pretty
>> likely'' that his 700-member group will sue the government for
>> allegedly
>> ignoring the generous intentions of Congress.
>>
>> "There are some significant improvements, but overall, we're
>> disappointed,"
>> he says.
>>
>> Push's wife, Lisa Raines, was aboard the jet that hijackers flew into
>> the
>> Pentagon (news - web sites). He says the fund should value a human
>> life at
>> a minimum of $2.7 million, the figure the Federal Aviation
>> Administration
>> (news - web sites) uses in studies of safety rules. And the $250,000
>> non-economic award is "arbitrary and capricious," he says.
>
*************************************************************************
Charlie Chambers
Hood River, OR
--
cchamber@alumni.rice.edu
"No matter where you go...
there you are."
Dr. Buckaroo Banzai
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