NYC Downplays Many 9/11 Illness Claims

City: 30% Of People Claiming Ground Zero-Related Illnesses Don’t Have Serious Health Problems

(AP)  Many of the thousands of people who have gone to court claiming ground zero-related illnesses don't have serious health problems, lawyers for the city claim in court papers.

About 10,800 plaintiffs claim to suffer from a wide variety of health problems from breathing toxic dust from the debris of the World Trade Center after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

The claims are filed in federal court in Manhattan, where U.S. District Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein is overseeing the cases. About half were filed by city workers, including police officers and firefighters.

In a letter to Hellerstein last month, the law firm hired by the city, Patton Boggs LLP, contended that its review of the pending claims show about 30 percent of the people seeking compensation allege "only nominal injuries."

The letter, first reported by The New York Times, said 30 percent of claims involved cases where a specific ailment was not diagnosed. The claims instead describe symptoms, such as a runny nose or sleep problems.

"This is not to suggest that the remaining 70 percent of plaintiffs are seriously injured," the lawyers wrote. "To the contrary, diagnosable injuries such as sinusitis and acid reflux are not necessarily serious."

In fact, the lawyers contend, more than 300 of the claims, or about 3 percent of the total, "do not claim any past or current physical injury" at all.

A call to David Worby, one of the lawyers for the workers, was not immediately returned. But in a separate letter sent to the judge last month, the workers' advocates suggested the two sides could work together to categorize claims by their severity.

Lawyers for the workers say the city should stop fighting the claims and start paying them. The federal government created a $1 billion insurance fund to handle such claims. The fund is administered by the city.

[spadeisspade]

How about they direct the lawsuit to the groups that fund terrorism? Yes, extremely far fetched, but to me it''s just about as far fetched as expecting NYC to foot the bill. Can you imagine living in NYC, losing a family member to 9/11 and then having a portion of your tax money go to pay settlements to volunteers? There''s gotta be another, more fair way to take care of these people.

[mkbjon]

I get the distinct feeling that the next time there is a tragedy on this scale, people will think twice before they rush in to help. I do think that medical and financial assistance should be provided for those that have a legitimate claim. Unscrupulous people will always be there when there is money to be had, unfortunately.

[lochlan-2009]

Freeloaders. There is no shortage of them in New York City.

[annabell100]

For real!! People this was a huge tragedy. Why is everyone so freaking money hungry. It was no american''s fault that there was dust in the air. I can not believe what this world is coming to. It seems that now days if somebody sneezes in the same room as another person they are sued for spreading germs.

[feelfree4u]

Related-

www.zeitgeistmovie.com

[spadeisspade]

Fine, I''ll be the first to say it. NYC doesn''t owe a DIME to anyone who helped clean the mess up of 9/11, exception being of course to those who are PAID by NYC. The fireman, policeman, EMT, etc, deserve to be taken care of for doing their job. But these scumbags that jump on the backs of those that actually deserve compensation should be jailed for wasting the court''s time. You people should be ashamed.