Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Department of Justice Emails Description An account of the resource The Department of Justice received more than 11,000 e-mails in response to the agency's public solicitation for comments upon its plans to distribute the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund of 2001 established by Congress to benefit the victims of September 11 and their families. These e-mails have been organized here by date. September 11 Email September 11 Email: Body The basic content, as unstructured text; sometimes containing a signature block at the end. Friday, December 21, 2001 2:45 PM FW: Flaws in the Plan > Honorable Kenneth Feinberg > Special Master of Sept 11 Victims Fund > > > > As a financial adviser to families who lost members during the > September 11 attacks I have followed the creation of the Victims' Fund > quite closely. As such, I was aghast at the dramatic change of direction > from your previously stated position of not imposing caps on victims > earnings to calculate the final award to the very arbitrary $225,000 limit > that was disclosed in press releases today. Away from any inherent > unfairness to such a limit, I believe that this undermines the very > essence and intent of the plan. As a citizen and a participant in the > financial markets, I applauded this effort as a very necessary vehicle to > try and remove a litigation cloud over the vital airline industry. Having > watched other industries stagger to bankruptcy as their financial options > were constrained by an inability to measure future liabilities from > lawsuits, I thought that this plan offered a hopeful alternative. The > recognition of how huge an importance the travel industry has to the US > economy has been amply demonstrated in the last few months. The collateral > damage from its contraction is very profound and not easily reversed. As > such, this bill offered hope that access to the capital markets and the > ability to continue to restructure would be possible for the airlines. > These benefits were enjoyed not just by the specific companies, but had > positive repercussions for the entire economy and every citizen. > Unfortunately, the net effect of your plan with its unrealistically low > earnings caps totally negates this. Instead of a fair settlement, families > of high earners (and especially high earners who had the prudence to buy > adequate insurance) will not receive any award the way the plan is now > constructed. I can not believe that the aim of this limit would be to > leave grieving families with no alternative but to commence protracted, > paralyzing litigation against the airlines. > There is also a serious argument that the plan is simply not fair to > these families. Others more eloquent than I will undoubtably make that > case. My reason for writing is to question whether one of the benefits > envisioned by this plan has been seriously compromised. The suits against > the airlines will not be eliminated as hoped, but some families, who will > have no benefit from the victims' fund, are almost incentivized to begin > proceedings. For the families, and to promote the long term economic > health of the country, I hope the current plan will be revised to > eliminate such inequities. Not only can it be done, but at very manageable > cost > > Sincerely, > Individual Comment > Plandome, NY September 11 Email: Date The local time and date when the message was written. 2001-12-21 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource dojN000539.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. email Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2001-12-21