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, January 20, 2002 1:34 PM Comments On September 11, I watched in complete horror from my mid-town Manhattan office as the Twin Towers collapsed. At that moment, I knew in my heart that a dear friend that was at work was dying. His wife and two children are now left without a husband and father. The horror that was that moment lives on every day for this family. All Americans were hurt in some way by 9/11; but the pain, loss and continued suffering of the families that lost loved ones go light years beyond anything anyone else feels or can even comprehend. Unfortunately, our government is not helping to alleviate this situation. Under the present proposal for the victims compensation fund, my friend's family (and hundreds of others) will be receiving little, if any, compensation for their loss. There are several problems with the present proposal: (i) non-economic damages (or pain & suffering) are equal to $250,000 for the decedent and $50,000 for each surviving person; (ii) economic calculations are based upon National statistics and not NY earnings statistics for potential loss of earnings (even the Federal Government pays employees more that work in the NY area); and (iii) the application of collateral offsets. These issues should not be considered in a vacuum, as many appear to be doing. The intent of this proposal is clear -- avoidance of protracted litigation and limitation of economic harm to the airline industry. These are noble goals. However, if this were any other airline disaster, recoveries could be much higher that the current proposal. Indeed, recoveries could be as much as $2 million or more. And, such recoveries would be based upon actual earnings and not subject to an arbitrary cap. Moreover, recoveries would not be reduced merely because the victim had the good sense to pay for life insurance and save for retirement. Money will not bring back lives; it is not meant to. What it can do is fairly compensate families for the loss of their loved one. There are many people and organizations that bear some responsibility for the events of 9/11 -- for instance, the airlines and airports who were unprepared to protect their passengers and the Port Authority of NY and NJ that told people not to evacuate and remain at their desks. These entities are benefiting from the compensation proposal far more than the victims. The removal of the spectre of protracted litigation saves them millions in fees and eventual judgments. The victims of 9/11 deserve to be fairly compensated if they are to cooperate with the government's goals of limiting litigation and liability. The present proposal for the victims compensation fund must be altered to permit compensation to be calculated in a proper manner. Actual earnings and potential earnings should be based upon reality -- the actual wages and NY statistics; not an arbitrary standard. Also, there should be no caps on these calculations. Finally, families that planned for their future by buying insurance and saving for retirement should be penalized. The only message this would send to Americans is that you are better off if you are immature and irresponsible. Clearly, not the right message. I urge each of you to sign onto Congressman Peter King's letter concerning the victims compensation fund. Thank you for your time in this extremely important matter. Individual Comment New York, NY September 11 Email: Date The local time and date when the message was written. 2002-01-20 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 dojN002117.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. 2002-01-20