W000249
Thursday, November 08, 2001 6:03 AM
Comments on compensation fund...
Sirs -
My wife was lost at Tower One on September 11, so the debate concerning compensation is both compelling and personal. Please consider these observations.
a.. The use of a 'grid' for calculating compensatory damages is useful to the process only if it's well understood and publicized. Victim's families will then have a minimun dollar amount they can weigh in their own considerations of options to file suit. In many cases families might be able to reach sound decisions using volunteer resources including family attorneys and accountants without consulting litigators who often have larger agendas.
b.. At the same time, 'pain and suffereing' components of a compensation package will vary dramatically from family to family (or claimant to claimant) and should be treated individually. While I see inherent problems associated with the varying perceptions of individual judges/arbiters when faced with different qualities of presentations, close communication between judges and some sort of internal and automatic appeal step might help this part of the process succeed.
c.. I have to agree with arguments against subtracting life insurance payments and other charitable support received from compensation packages. I understand the compensation program has two goals: (1) to provide an alternative to protracted litigation that would bankrupt a dozen companies, and (2) to make victims' families whole in terms of projected income. If insurance and relief payments are substracted the gulf between the two alternatives, litigation or application, widens.
a.. Some people will turn down needed relief to the short-term detriment of their children.
b.. It would suggest that the purchase of life insurance is essentially meaningless as an investment.
c.. It puts the warm generosity of the American people on the same footing as cold-blooded taxation, since in essence, any relief accepted is simply subsidizing the financial responsibility already accepted by Congress.
Of the other victim's families with whom I've been in contact, most want to clear the decks quickly and get on with our lives. However we have important, long-term obligations to our children. Let's find a way to make this work in an open and fair way that will bring closure to everyone.
Individual Comment
Princeton, NJ