761 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. Monday, March 11, 2002 6:22 PM (no subject) What a horrible thing you are doing to not include the partners of the gay people that lost their lives, in your benefits package. This is really, really wrong. Individual Comment September 11 Email: Date The local time and date when the message was written. 2002-03-11 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource dojR000280.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. email Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2002-03-11 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Department of Justice Emails Description An account of the resource The Department of Justice received more than 11,000 e-mails in response to the agency's public solicitation for comments upon its plans to distribute the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund of 2001 established by Congress to benefit the victims of September 11 and their families. These e-mails have been organized here by date. September 11 Email September 11 Email: Body The basic content, as unstructured text; sometimes containing a signature block at the end. Sunday, December 09, 2001 4:24 PM Dear Sir or Madam: Please include among relatives eligible for 9-11-2001 compensation those who lost their life partners as well as de facto parents or children, without regard to sexual orientation or marital status. Please follow the example already set by New York Governor Pataki in 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." Thank you. Individual Comment Irving TX September 11 Email: Date The local time and date when the message was written. 2001-12-09 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 dojA001385.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. 2001-12-09 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 10:05 AM September 11 Victim Compensation Fund 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." My husband and I strongly urge the Department to draft regulations that ensure compensation is available to all victims of the attack and we do mean all victims! All victims include undocumented aliens struggling to make a living as well as the committed partners and the non-biological children of gay and lesbian victims. We understand that many dependents of those workers whose papers were not in order are reluctant to come forward for fear they will be deported or suffer some other unwarranted reprisal. Their grief is no less severe and economic situation probably a lot worse than those with full citizenship. The losses suffered by the families of gay and lesbian victims are also 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. All are heros; all were part of the fabric that makes our great economy run. We urge the Department not only to honor these bonds by treating the familiesof gay and lesbian victims as well the aliens as you would any other but to actively make known their elgibility. Sincerely, Individual Comment 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 dojA000747.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. Saturday, March 16, 2002 3:00 PM Compensation for all Fellow Americans: When terrorists attacked us, they did so indiscriminately. They did not murder just heterosexuals or secretaries or young people, their object was to kill as many Americans of all description as possible. Not even Muslims or foreign nationals escaped Osama's killing machine. If we are to heal, our compensation must likewise be universal. We cannot perpetuate the freedoms we claim to defend by dividing ourselves into factions according to our sexuality, religion or other perceived differences among us. Accordingly, let us resolve that all victims, including those not living the lifestyle that we may have chosen, be included in compensation funding. Let us strengthen ourselves in unity rather than weaken our society by exaggerating differences our enemies neither see nor acknowledge when they attack us! Individual Comment Etna,NY 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 dojR001021.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. Tuesday, January 15, 2002 7:18 AM January 14, 2001 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 Re: Comments to the Interim Final Rule Dear Mr. Zwick, Thank you for trying to ?do the right thing? by all of the parties involved in the September 11th attacks on America. All Americans were violated on that horrible day. As we all know, no amount of money could come close to adequately compensating the families of victims for what they are going through. After a thorough review of the proposed interim rule, I have the following comments: 1. Calculation of Income. For purposes of determining economic losses, a victim?s base compensation appears to be his or her pre-tax earnings for the three-year period 1998-2000, including salary and bonus plus certain employer benefits. Why would the formula choose to use 1998 and ignore the victim?s most recent salary in 2001? Most of the victims were employed for nine out twelve months in 2001 and it would be easy to extrapolate the victim?s full 2001 salary. In many cases it would seem that the 2001 salary would be more indicative of a victim?s actual earning potential than his or her 1998 salary would. This is particularly true for younger victims who in most cases would have a much higher salary in 2001 than in 1998. Which year is more relevant? In the case of many of the victims, certainly the 2001 salary is more relevant. The regulations should be amended to allow the claimant to have the option to use either 1998 or 2001 in the three-year average. This can be done by amending the second and third sentences of Part 104.43 of the regulations pertaining to salary to read: ?The Decedent?s salary/income in 1998-2001 shall be evaluated in a manner that the Special Master deems appropriate. The Special Master may, if he deems it appropriate, take the higher of (i) an average of income figures for the three years 1998 through 2000, or (ii) an average of income figures for the three years 1999 through 2001.? The regulations also need to be a little more clear on what ?certain employer benefits? means. It would seem that all employer costs associated with compensating the victim should be considered a part of his or her compensation. This would include employer premiums paid for health insurance, dental insurance, life insurance, and workers? compensation insurance. It should also include employer contributions to a victim?s pension plan or 401K plan. These types of payments are no less a part of compensation than a victim?s salary was. 2. Calculation of Non-Economic Loss. It appears that the interim final rules ignored the Statute in determining non-economic losses. While it is impossible to scientifically calculate the proper amount to award for non-economic losses, the amount of ?presumed non-economic loss? of $250,000 plus $50,000 for each of the victim?s spouse and dependants is not in concert with the Statute. The Statute passed by Congress and signed by the President defined ?non-economic losses? in twelve categories, including 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 (other than loss of domestic service), - hedonic damages, - injury to reputation, - and all other non-pecuniary losses of any kind or nature. There is no mention in the final interim rule of any of these specific losses that the Statute requires to be awarded. The Statute did not say that victims would only be awarded the same amount as ?roughly equivalent to the amounts received under existing federal programs by public safety officers who are killed while on duty or members of our military who are killed in the line of duty.? The victims of September 11 were not public safety officers or members of the military killed in the line of duty. They were clerks, waiters, accountants, office workers and executives who were murdered when innocently going to work one Tuesday morning in September. They were murdered for what they symbolized, America?s freedom and economic success. They were murdered because of a failure by the airlines, security firms and the government to put adequate safeguards in place to properly protect the nation?s air transportation system. Congress decided that it would be in the best interest of the nation to prevent the collapse of the airline industry by limiting lawsuits brought by victims, and these victims are entitled to receive compensation in line with what Congress spelled out in the Statute. The amounts received by public safety officers or military members referred to in the interim rules are in the form of life insurance. The amount of this life insurance is totally unrelated to pain and suffering, mental anguish and other non-economic losses and was not arrived at by weighing all of the factors that the Statute lists. Although Congress could easily have written the Statute to state that non-economic awards should be comparable to awards given to public safety officers or the military, it chose not to do so. Rather Congress specifically spelled out the factors that should be considered in determining the amount of non-economic damages. Yet, the interim final rules chose to ignore these factors and substitute the judgment of Congress with this ?comparable to the military? calculation. It should also be noted that (i) life insurance payout to public safety officers and members of the military are not contingent upon the deceased or his family giving up his right to sue for wrongful death (ii) the life insurance payout to public safety officers and members of the military are not reduced by collateral sources including the amounts of any additional life insurance that such public safety officers or members of the military may have purchased on their own behalf, and (iii) the life insurance payout is made whenever a public safety officer is killed while on duty regardless of the cause of death, regardless of how much suffering was involved, and regardless of who was at fault. Since life insurance, pensions and other ?collateral sources? are deducted from amount paid to September 11 victims under the Statute, many victims will receive substantially less from the Fund than a public safety officer or member of the military would receive under that federal statute. There is no doubt that a jury would award a significantly higher amount for non-economic damages in a court action (Courts have awarded higher amounts than this to people who were burned by spilling cups of hot coffee on themselves). In many cases the September 11 victims suffered indescribable pain, agony and mental anguish for prolonged periods of time (up to several hours). All of this time the victims were aware that they were going to die a horrible and painful death. I understand that it would be difficult to address non-economic pain and suffering on a case-by-case basis as who is to say which victims suffered more than others. I think the rules are correct in having a set amount for all victims. However, the amount needs to consider the factors set forth by Congress in the Statute. One way to come up with an amount for non-economic damages is to take an average of what was awarded by juries in cases where victims suffered greatly for prolonged periods of time, knowing that their fate was to die within hours. Each of the factors that Congress included in the Statute must be considered in arriving at a fair amount to award for non-economic damages. Increasing the amount of non-economic damages would help to solve two other criticisms of the interim rules. (1) it would help to close the gap in awards between highly compensated individuals and lower compensated individuals, and (2) it would increase the gross amount of the awards prior to deducting life insurance and other collateral sources of income making the fund a more viable alternative to many that would otherwise file law suits. A significant increase in the non-economic awards would go a long way toward bringing the interim final rules into concert with the Statute passed by Congress. 3. Victims Engaged to be Married. The treatment of victims who were engaged to be married at the time they were killed on September 11 is not addressed in the interim final rule. Fiancées appear to have no standing under the fund, even though they were often the person who was the closest person to the victim and the person whose life was affected the most dramatically. In addition, the compensation charts (particularly the calculation estimating how much of his compensation a victim would have personally consumed) assume that the victim would not have kept his or her promise to marry. If a victim was married without children the interim rules calculate his or her economic loss using a ?consumption factor? that is based on the victim sharing his earnings with his spouse. Meanwhile, a person who is unmarried is deemed by the charts to have consumed almost all of his earnings himself. This is so even though the victim is engaged to be married and planned to have children, and would not have consumed all of his income himself. While it is speculative to estimate the number of children, if any, that a victim would have had, it is not speculative to assume that the victim would have gone through with his or her promise to marry and thus have a lifetime of mutual support. If a victim was engaged to be married the chart showing ?Married Decedent with No Dependent Children? should be used. The fact that September 11 cut short the lives of some of the victims at a time when they had not yet completed their plans to wed should not create an assumption that the victim?s future personal consumption would have been that of a single person. While overall, I think the interim final rules represent a good effort to treat victims fairly, I believe the above changes will solve some of the issues that remain and bring the rules more into line with the provisions of the Statute. Thank you for considering the above comments. Individual Comment Ballston Spa, NY 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 dojN001609.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. 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 Daly City, 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 dojA003006.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 19, 2001 10:44 AM Equalize Crisis Relief 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. When our country comes under attack from members of a regime as oppressive as the Taliban, we must protect not only our citizens, but also our way of life, by upholding the very freedoms that the Taliban hates. 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 Iowa City, IA 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 dojA003022.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. December 17, 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 Arcata, CA September 11 Email: Date The local time and date when the message was written. 2001-12-17 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 dojA005103.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. 2001-12-17 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 11:12 PM Re: Fair treatment for all victims' families 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 St. Petersburg, 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 dojA001675.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. email Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2001-12-13 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Department of Justice Emails Description An account of the resource The Department of Justice received more than 11,000 e-mails in response to the agency's public solicitation for comments upon its plans to distribute the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund of 2001 established by Congress to benefit the victims of September 11 and their families. These e-mails have been organized here by date. September 11 Email September 11 Email: Body The basic content, as unstructured text; sometimes containing a signature block at the end. Monday, January 21, 2002 12:30 PM Comments to victims compensation fund Dear Mr. Zwick, I am writing to express my disappointment with the rules outlined for the Federal Victims Compensation Fund. I was told that the purpose of this fund was to provide victims with an alternative to the long and costly litigation process. The rules as they currently stand fall far short of this goal. My first concern relates to the arbitrary cap that is imposed on the salaries of victims when calculating their economic loss. The imposition of this cap is completely unfair to those victims who were earning above the maximum salary level. Please consider the impact of this cap on the families of the victims. Not only have they lost a loved one, but if you do not change your rules, they will also be deprived of the financial benefits their loved ones worked hard to attain. Many of the victims were the sole providers for young families. They had only recently begun to reap the benefits of their hard work and higher education, and one could expect that they would have had provided financial stability for their families for years to come. If they choose to take part in your plan, and accept your proposal, they will have to give up the quality of life their loved ones worked hard to attain. In light of the current rules, I would counsel victims that to partake in the government plan would be to disgrace their lost loved ones, and that they should therefore pursue a legal remedy through the courts. Although a legal battle would be painful, and cost the U.S. taxpayers millions over time, I would rather have them endure a long and arduous court battle, and attain justice in the end, than be sold out under the current plan, which provides protection for the airlines at the expense of the victims. I would also like to express my disappointment with the amount that is being awarded for pain and suffering. In light of the circumstances, I believe that your financial quantification of the victims, and their families’ suffering is unconscionable. Please consider the suffering that many of the victims who were at work on the top floors endured. These victims were alive for almost an hour, under unfathomable circumstances- with people suffocating from smoke around them, and their co-workers jumping out of windows to their death. Many were cognizant that they would never see their families and friends again. Now please consider the pain of the families of the victims, and recognize that they watched this horror unfold on television, and spent days suffering, not knowing if their loved ones were dead or alive. Then consider that they will spend the rest of their lives imagining the circumstances and suffering endured by the victims. Also consider the children that lost a parent and a provider. Recognize that these children will have constant reminders of their loss each day- through television, gossip, and history books. In light of these circumstances, the predetermined pain and suffering figures are a disgrace to the victims and to their families Please do not continue to announce that this compensation fund is here to assist families of victims of the World Trade Center. It is an effort to bail out the airlines from litigation. It would be far more appropriate for an analysis to reveal to the public exactly how many families would receive nothing from this proposal. It is our firm belief that the interim rules issued by the Special Master on December 20th are contrary to the letter and the spirit of the legislation which was enacted, and that they must be reconsidered. Disappointed citizen, Individual Comment New York, NY September 11 Email: Date The local time and date when the message was written. 2002-01-21 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 dojN002164.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. 2002-01-21 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Department of Justice Emails Description An account of the resource The Department of Justice received more than 11,000 e-mails in response to the agency's public solicitation for comments upon its plans to distribute the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund of 2001 established by Congress to benefit the victims of September 11 and their families. These e-mails have been organized here by date. September 11 Email September 11 Email: Body The basic content, as unstructured text; sometimes containing a signature block at the end. Wednesday, December 19, 2001 10:09 AM Lawful Fairness 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 Detroit, MI 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 dojA002934.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. December 14, 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 Los Angeles, CA September 11 Email: Date The local time and date when the message was written. 2001-12-14 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource dojA004684.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. 2001-12-14 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Department of Justice Emails Description An account of the resource The Department of Justice received more than 11,000 e-mails in response to the agency's public solicitation for comments upon its plans to distribute the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund of 2001 established by Congress to benefit the victims of September 11 and their families. These e-mails have been organized here by date. September 11 Email September 11 Email: Body The basic content, as unstructured text; sometimes containing a signature block at the end. Sunday, February 17, 2002 1:09 PM New Vote.com votes as of 01:08 PM EST on February 17th, 2002 Dear September 11th Victim Compensation Fund, Vote.com is the Internet's most popular voting site. Millions of people regularly express their opinions and - in just one click - automatically send their views to important decision makers like you. Here are the latest votes on the question, SHOULD FAMILIES OF ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS WHO DIED ON 9-11 GET MONEY FROM THE FEDERAL VICTIMS' FUND?: YES: 2 votes NO: 55 votes Group Comment September 11 Email: Date The local time and date when the message was written. 2002-02-17 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 dojP000524.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. 2002-02-17 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Department of Justice Emails Description An account of the resource The Department of Justice received more than 11,000 e-mails in response to the agency's public solicitation for comments upon its plans to distribute the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund of 2001 established by Congress to benefit the victims of September 11 and their families. These e-mails have been organized here by date. September 11 Email September 11 Email: Body The basic content, as unstructured text; sometimes containing a signature block at the end. Monday, March 25, 2002 4:20 PM Hello, Wanted to take the time to express my frustration and outrage at the decisions being made to exclude certain people from the Victim Compensation Fund from the 9/11 Terrorist attacks. You are paid to make the tough decisions. Falling back on the "we will follow each states rules" is abhorrent and LAZY. Do the right thing. All victims should get compensations. PERIOD. Sorting some people out from others will only continue the divisiveness. Sincerely, Individual Comment September 11 Email: Date The local time and date when the message was written. 2002-03-25 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 dojR002719.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. 2002-03-25 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, January 10, 2002 12:49 AM victim's comp. My final comment is to be more generous to the children of survivors. Don't forget that some of widows(ers) are newly married picking up a large sum of money for a short relationship. It's the young children who have many years to live. Please be kind and generous. I still think it needs to be individualized. You have to do the deductions otherwise the people that receive large amounts from employer and then from the fund does not make for a fair game plan. Individual Comment 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 dojN001490.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. 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. Individual Comment Williams, 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 dojA003701.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 21, 2002 Kenneth L. Zwick, Director Office of Management Programs Civil Division U.S. Department of Justice Main Building - Room 3140 950 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20530 Re: Victim Compensation Fund of 2001 - Interim Final Rule Dear Mr. Zwick: The undersigned, as general counsel for the Uniformed Firefighters Association of Greater New York, hereby submit comments on the "Interim Final Rule" promulgated pursuant to Title IV of the Air Transportation Safety & System Stabilization Act. These comments are also being sent on behalf of counsel for the Uniformed Fire Officers Association. Together, both firms represent all uniformed firefighters and fire officers of the Fire Department of the City of New York. We believe that the Interim Final Rule (hereinafter "IFR") must be modified in several ways, both in the interest of fairness and in order to properly comply with the intent of Congress and the specific language of the statute. We also note that even though we represent the firefighter community, many of our comments are applicable to all victims of the September 11, 2001 attacks. Re: Special Master Feinberg January 21, 2002 Page 2 of 8 Our specific comments are as follows: Eligibility The IFR defines eligible individuals to include claimants who were "present" at the World Trade Center "at the time or in the immediate aftermath of the crashes." The IFR defines "immediate aftermath" to be up to 12 hours after the crashes, except for rescue workers. For those rescue workers, the time period is currently expanded to 96 hours. However, the IFR requires that an injured claimant have an objectively verifiable physical injury that was treated by a medical professional within 24 hours of sustaining the injury or within 24 hours of rescue. We submit that the 24-hour requirement noted above is unreasonable. We particularly have in mind the thousands of New York City firefighters who responded to the 09/11/01 attacks at the World Trade Center and thereafter continued to search for their fallen brothers. We have heard countless stories that no firefighters were taking medical leave given the tremendous losses the Fire Department suffered and the emotionally-charged environment requiring that they stay at Ground Zero to help. We are also sure that many non-rescue workers were too dazed of frightened by the events of 09/11 to seek care within 24 hours of being hurt. We suggest that reviewing hospital and/or medical records will adequately insure that anyone claiming injury was actually hurt in the "immediate aftermath" of the attacks as defined by the rule. It would be grossly unfair to penalize any individual present during the attacks or who risked life and limb in rescue efforts for not having taken the step to seek medical treatment in the first 24 hours after being hurt. Re: Special Master Feinberg January 21, 2002 page 3 of 8 Beneficiaries Section 104.3 of the IFR provides that those qualifying as beneficiaries shall be determined under the laws of the decedent's domicile. Under current New York law, a "registered domestic partner" would not share in the proceeds of a wrongful death recovery. Nevertheless, it is clear that those firefighters, and others who had "registered domestic partners" under the New York City Administrative Code (Sections 3-240, et seq.), wanted them to be treated as if they were their spouses. We respectfully suggest that the IFR be amended to include a provision that a "registered domestic partner" be entitled to participate in any award to the same extent as would a spouse under State law. Economic and Non- Economic Loss/Collateral Sources The most troublesome provisions of the IFR relate to the calculation of economic and non-economic losses and the manner in which collateral source payments server to reduce the net recovery of a claimant. Section 402(5) of the Act defines economic loss to mean "any pecuniary loss resulting from harm...to the extent recovery for such loss is allowed under applicable State law." In reviewing Section 104.43 of the IFR, however, it seems to focus solely upon calculations geared to a loss of earnings resulting from the decedent's death (in addition to medical expenses and burial costs). A review of the applicable New York law reveals additional components of economic loss that are not at all addressed by the IFR. Under New York law, the loss of services of the decedent by his distributees are an integral part of economic loss. No mention of this is made in the IFR. Re: Special Master Feinberg January 21, 2002 Page 4 of 8 I am aware that the rules contend that a portion of the awards for "non-economic losses," namely $50,000.00 for the surviving spouse and each dependent include a non-economic component of "replacement services loss." It is impossible to judge from the IFR the amount of this "component." Furthermore, since it is an across-the board benefit for every death claim, it certainly has no relationship to the actual circumstances of individual cases. This can create a great injustice. For example, we are aware of a situation in which the surviving widow is legally blind and relied entirely upon her late husband for household work, transportation, home repairs and just about everything else. We are also aware of a situation in which a widow has severe emotional problems requiring that her late husband do nearly all household chores and essentially act as a nurse for his wife on a daily basis. We respectfully submit that whatever portion the "replacement services" loss of the $50,00.00 for spouses and each dependent may be, it would be clearly inadequate in these and similar cases. Simply put, the rules ignore the potentially significant concept of economic loss under New York law for the loss of services component of wrongful death damages. We are certain that testimony from forensic economists will establish a much greater value for this item of economic loss than permitted by the IFR. An even more glaring omission is the failure of the IFR to provide any form of compensation for the economic loss of the intellectual, moral and physical training and guidance that a deceased parent would have given his children. Loss of this parental care and guidance is a traditionally significant element of wrongful death damages under New York law. For example, enclosed herewith please find a copy of a decision of the Appellate Division, Second Department, in Paccione v. Greenberg, Re: Special Master Feinberg January 21, 2002 Page 5 of 8 256 A.D.2d 559, 682 N.Y.S.2D 442 (2d Dep't, 1998) permitting a damage award of 1.5 million dollars per child, aged three and six, for wrongful death of their mother. With respect to non-economic loss, the rules set a basic $250,000.00 figure, plus an additional $ 50,000.00 for the spouse and each dependent of the victim. As noted above, a potion of the $50,000.00 for the spouse and each dependent is alleged to have a "non-economic" component. In defining non-economic loss [Section 402(7)], the language of the Act is very broad and includes within the definition, "loss of society and companionship, loss of consortium and hedonic damages and all other non-pecuniary losses of any kind or nature." Significantly, unlike the statutory definition of economic loss, the definition of non-economic loss is not limited to those allowed under applicable state law. Nevertheless, the IFR award for non-economic loss for decedents contains none of these elements - nothing is awarded for loss of consortium, loss of enjoyment of life or hedonic damages. We respectfully submit that inclusion of these items should result in a substantially larger award for non-economic loss than "presumed" under the IFR. Collateral Compensation We are aware of the constraints placed upon the Special Master by the definition of "collateral source" contained within the Act. However, we believe the IFR gives an overly broad and incorrect interpretation of the manner in which the collateral source deduction of an award is to be made. It appears that once the amount of economic and non-economic losses are calculated, collateral source payments received by the claimant are deducted from the total in an "across-the-board" approach. Re: Special Master Feinberg January 21, 2002 Page 6 of 8 We submit that the methodology outlined in the IFR is both unfair to claimants and contrary to prevailing law. For example, pension payments made to a widow are clearly intended to replace the lost earnings resulting from the death of her husband. Therefore, if reductions are to be made, they would be properly subtracted from the lost earnings' component of economic loss. It makes no sense, however, to reduce the non-economic loss portion of the award by a pension or, for that matter, even the economic portion of the award which is not related to a lost earnings' claim. In that regard, you are respectfully referred to the decision of the New York State Court of Appeals in Oden v. Chemung County Industrial Development Agency, 87 N.Y. 2d 81, 637 N.Y. s 2d 670 (1995) requiring that collateral source deductions be made only when they represent reimbursement of a particular category of loss for which damages were awarded. Similarly, it also makes little sense to deduct pension payments, life insurance payments or other payments made to a surviving spouse from that portion of an award intended to compensate children of the decedent for their loss of parental care and guidance. We respectfully submit that further thought should be given to the manner in which collateral source deductions are made so that they can be properly allocated to the appropriate portion of the award and not unfairly penalize the claimants and the decedents' distributees. Furthermore, any collateral source deductions must not include contributions by the decedent, earnings on those contributions or the premiums paid for the life insurance coverage. Nor with respect to pensions should there be deduction for that portion already earned or vested by the decedent. Finally, with regard to injured but surviving police and firefighters who were disabled by their injuries, and receive a line-of-duty disability pension, it would make no sense to deduct Re: Special Master Feinberg January 21, 2002 Page 7 of 8 the present value of that pension from anything but the loss of earnings component of the claimant's damages. Otherwise, the pain and suffering component of claimant's award would be substantially eliminated and a non-disabled claimant would receive more than one who was disabled. Life Insurance At the risk of stating the obvious, we believe the IFR should make clear that if the decedent left a life insurance policy payable to persons who are not interstate distributees, that life insurance should not be deducted from claimant's award. Only the beneficiary of the life insurance payment should be subject to the collateral source deduction of such payment. Taxes The Special Master's explanation of the manner in which presumed awards for economic loss are calculated state that: "Projected future income is adjusted to account for taxes that would have been paid." Once again, this is contrary to prevailing law. Under New York law, unless there is an express statute to the contrary there should be no deduction of taxes in calculating the value of the loss of future earnings. [See, Johnson v. Manhattan & Bronx Surface Transit Operating Authority, 71 N.Y. 2d 198, 524 N.Y.S.2d 415 (1988).] Forfeiture of Right to Sue One of the provisions that has caused great consternation to survivors and the families of deceased victims of the September 11th attacks is the rule that filing of a claim constitutes a permanent waiver of the right to file or be party to a civil action. While we are not unmindful of the language of Section 405 (c) (3) (B) (i), we believe it would be equitable and appropriate for the final rules to define "submission of a claim" as to include the announcement of a "presumed award" by the Special Master. Only in that way can individuals who suffered tremendous losses on September 11th make an intelligent and informed choice of Re: Special Master Feinberg January 21, 2002 Page 8 of 8 whether to take advantage of the Act or seek re-dress through litigation. There is no question that the Act creates an unprecedented nature of this method that creates such uncertainty among the claimants. We submit that there will be no prejudice to the government or potential civil defendants if the above noted suggestion is adopted. Life and Work Expectancy Tables We are advised that the life and work expectancy tables utilized by the Special Master in calculating the presumed awards set forth in the IFR are out of date and unfair. They particularly ignore the increased role of women in the workplace and the fact that individuals today work much longer than in the past. We suggest that any tables used be the most up-to-date and reflective of the reality of today's work force. We ask that the Department of Justice seriously consider the above comments, as well as the comments submitted by others. Thank you. Very truly yours, Comment by: Counsel for THE UNIFORMED FIREFIGHTERS ASSOCIATION of GREATER NEW YORK and Counsel for THE UNIFORMED FIRE OFFICERS ASSOCIATION New York, NY Attachment 1 682 New York Supplement, 2d series, 25e A.D.2d 559 Paccone v Greenberg September 11 Email: Date The local time and date when the message was written. 2002-01-21 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 dojN002554.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. 2002-01-21 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Department of Justice Emails Description An account of the resource The Department of Justice received more than 11,000 e-mails in response to the agency's public solicitation for comments upon its plans to distribute the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund of 2001 established by Congress to benefit the victims of September 11 and their families. These e-mails have been organized here by date. September 11 Email September 11 Email: Body The basic content, as unstructured text; sometimes containing a signature block at the end. Wednesday, December 19, 2001 9:31 AM Equal 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 Wayne, PA September 11 Email: Date The local time and date when the message was written. 2001-12-19 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource dojA002866.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. email Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2001-12-19 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Department of Justice Emails Description An account of the resource The Department of Justice received more than 11,000 e-mails in response to the agency's public solicitation for comments upon its plans to distribute the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund of 2001 established by Congress to benefit the victims of September 11 and their families. These e-mails have been organized here by date. September 11 Email September 11 Email: Body The basic content, as unstructured text; sometimes containing a signature block at the end. Wednesday, December 19, 2001 8:54 AM Loss of a Gay Partner DOES matter!! 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 Red Hook, NY September 11 Email: Date The local time and date when the message was written. 2001-12-19 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource dojA002789.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. December 14, 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 Howard, SD September 11 Email: Date The local time and date when the message was written. 2001-12-14 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource dojA004597.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. 2001-12-14