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 22, 2002 VIA FACSIMILE Kenneth Feinberg, Esq. c/o Kenneth L. Zwick, Director Office of Management Programs Civil Division U.S. Department of Justice Main Building, Room 3140 950 Pennsylvania Avenue Washington, D.C. 20530 Dear Mr. Feinberg: I am writing on behalf of , who was the fiancee of , a Vice President of , who died in the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. , who is 27 years old, and , who was 29 years old at the time of his death, were schedule to be married on , at in Manhattan. A reception was planned at the . The invitations to their wedding and reception were already printed on September 11th and were about to be mailed. and had already given notice to their respective landlords that they were to terminate their leases as of October 30th and had signed a lease on a "perfect" apartment in Brooklyn Heights beginning November 1st. This was a couple with a bright and beautiful future, which was cut off prematurely as a result of the terrorist attacks. Nevertheless, under the laws of the State of New York, will not have a right to receive any portion of her fianc's estate, and, under the interim regulations of the Victim Compensation Fund, because distributions must be made "in a manner consistent with the law of the decedent's domicile", she will not have a right to any portion of the benefits from the program. I respectfully submit that this result is neither equitable nor morally correct. As you are no doubt aware, the plight of the nearly wed was movingly exposed in an article printed on the front page of today's The New York Times. While the Special Master has the authority to "appropriately compensate the victim's spouse, children or other relatives" regardless of state law, a fiancee of a victim, who is not related by law, has no such discretionary right. In addition, there is no procedure under the regulations to ensure that the fianc or fiancee's claim will be heard. It seems inconsistent with the intent of Congress that the person who was perhaps the closest to the victim should be denied all right to compensation. Accordingly, I respectfully request, on behalf of , that you revise the regulations to provide that, (i) upon proof of an impending marriage, a fianc or fiancee of a victim will have a right, discretionary or otherwise, to receive a portion of the benefits awarded from the Victim Compensation Fund as a result of the victim's death, and (ii) a procedure be established to allow a person who would not otherwise take under state law, but who has a colorable right, such as a fianc or fiancee, to present a claim for a share of such benefits. Sincerely, Individual Comment New York, NY September 11 Email: Date The local time and date when the message was written. 2002-01-22 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource dojN002495.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. email Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2002-01-22