NYC Reaches Deal in Sept. 11 Health Claims

(AP)  After years of fighting in court, lawyers representing the city, construction companies and more than 10,000 ground zero rescue and recovery workers have agreed to a settlement that could pay up to $657.5 million to responders sickened by dust from the destroyed World Trade Center.

The settlement was announced Thursday evening by the WTC Captive Insurance Co., a special entity established to indemnify the city and its contractors against potential legal action as they moved to clean up the site after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks.

The deal, which still must be approved by a judge and the workers themselves, would make the city and other companies represented by the insurer liable for a minimum of $575 million, with more money available to the sick if certain conditions are met.

Most if not all of the money would come out of a $1 billion grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg called the settlement "a fair and reasonable resolution to a complex set of circumstances."

"The resolution of the World Trade Center litigation will allow the first responders and workers to be compensated for injuries suffered following their work at Ground Zero," Bloomberg said in a statement.

Marc Bern, a senior partner with the law firm Worby, Groner, Edelman & Napoli, Bern LLP, which negotiated the deal, said it was "a good settlement."

"We are gratified that these heroic men and women who performed their duties without consideration of the health implications will finally receive just compensation for their pain and suffering, lost wages, medical and other expenses, as the U.S. Congress intended when it appropriated this money," he said in a statement.

Workers who wish to participate in the settlement would need to prove they had been at the World Trade Center site or other facilities that handled debris. They also would have to turn over medical records and provide other information aimed at weeding out fraudulent or dubious claims.

For the settlement to be enforced, 95 percent of the workers would need to agree to be bound by its terms.

The agreement comes with just two months to go until the first trials are to begin in the case. Thousands of police officers, firefighters and construction workers who put in time at the 16-acre site in lower Manhattan had filed lawsuits against the city, claiming it sent them to ground zero without proper protective equipment.

Many of those workers now claim to have fallen ill. A majority complained of a respiratory problem similar to asthma, but the suits also sought damages for hundreds of other types of ailments, including cancer.

[acupuncturegirl]

Those responsible should pay the American public for the consequences of creating this BIG LIE. Hundreds of thousands of people have suffered and died because of it and still are.

The helpers were not the only "gullible" ones.

[dkb218]

I can't believe the comments some of you people make. These brave men and women in my hometown, risked life and limb to help people in need. They were given improper equipment after the EPA deemed that the air was safe to breath. We all know now that it was a lie. Months after these fine people did their duty, some started coming down with terrible illness. The City of New York refuse to even consider that it was because of WTC. Yet some started to die. Still the City turned its back on them. Shame NYC, Shame!

For those who think that these brave men and women do not deserve to be compensated for pain and injury, I pray one day that you are in a situation just like this and have the same happen to you. Insensitive bastards.

[wtcmedicdidntforget]

THANK YOU!!!!! Well said. almost 100,000 people worked or vol. at ground zero. from all over the world people came to help in some way. We dont deserve island mansions or hot cars, bling but at least we deserve health care which we are getting and compensation for lost income, work, careers. etc. most of us were INVITED BY THE MAYORS OFFICE to respond to NYC.

[Dgunner]

THIS ALL BS---T . WHEN YOU SWEAR IN PUT ON THE UNIFORM AND CASH THE CHECKS YOU ARE BEING PAID FOR WHAT MIGHT HAPPEN NOW OR IN THE FUTURE AS RESULT OF BEING A PUBLIC SERVANT. ONLY IN AMERICA !

[cbsblogger]

Question:

1. Were first responders (not the families or those who died) already awarded financial assistance?

2. Does this fund also cover the many residents and volunteers who also were exposed?

3. Didn't George Bush's EPA state that air quality was not a problem at WTC?

[wtcmedicdidntforget]

1. yes, rescuers, police, steel/construction workers AND living family members of deseased civilians were awarded funds by ken starr under the victims compensation fund.
2. the award back in 2003? did take care of residents and volunteers IF YOU PROVIDED CLEAR PROOF that you were there, were injured on the site.
3. yes, the epa said the air was fine. i think most of us at ground zero would love to take a crack at the EPA boss who said the air was o.k. she was wearing a hepa mask prior to interview and immediatly after it.

[wheresmycountry]

I wonder what the health risks of breathing unexploded thermite are.

[wtcmedicdidntforget]

and the earth is flat, we never went to the moon and i will someday be on the cover of GQ.

[newsterl]

Thousands of police officers, firefighters and construction workers who put in time at the 16-acre site in lower Manhattan had filed lawsuits against the city, claiming it sent them to ground zero without proper protective equipment. "

And the clouds of dust and smoke didn't indicate to these dorks that they needed to wear something more substantial than a loose fitting paper mask, or nothing?
Seems to me these people were fools- EVERYONE knows smoke and dust are severe health risk, especially fireman and emergency workers and construction workers!

[wtcmedicdidntforget]

NEWSTERL
Want to come to brooklyn and say that? Dare ya!!! ever think rocket scientist that we were NOT GIVEN PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT? Ever get out of your mothers house and work a fire scene? a disaster with large amounts of dust in the air? every try to breath threw a straw and climb a mountain? thats what it was like with ANY MASK! Especially in the early days it was about RESCUE. Like i said come here and tell us this, we would be happy to hear about it from an arm chair scientist.

[DSR_57]

I'm going to have to agree Newsterl. Yeah! Lets go help at ground zero and then we can SUE ! !

Good job, you all took a crowning achievement of coming together by the American people and turned it into an eyesore of sue happy freaks !

[dwilson59]

How it works

657k less Atty fees at 35% =$427,050,000.00

Now you have cost for the cases in class action we will say 15% which is $98,550,000.00

Now your down to $328,500,000 divided by 10,000 = $32,850 per a worker.

[wtcmedicdidntforget]

the atty fees are 1/3 on this plus espenses and in come cases even less. Its the cost of the copy machine that will eat you up! not kidding...