WTC Workers Urged to Take $657M Settlement

(AP)  Lawyers and city officials expressed confidence Friday that they can get ground zero responders to sign on to a settlement that would pay up to $657 million to workers who developed health problems after toiling in the ruins of the World Trade Center.

Thousands of workers who claim to have been sickened by dust and debris will have three months to decide whether to accept the package. If 95 percent don't say yes, the deal is off.

The decision will be a complicated one, but a lead attorney for the firm that negotiated the settlement said most of the feedback from clients so far has been good.

"By far, the calls are running very positive. The clients are quite relieved that an end is in sight," said Marc Bern, a senior partner with the law firm Worby, Groner, Edelman & Napoli, Bern LLP, which negotiated the deal.

Still, with 10,000 plaintiffs involved in the case, success isn't assured. Only $575 million of the settlement is guaranteed. Some workers will qualify for only the minimum payment of $3,250. Any award they get could be depleted by a third or more once the plaintiffs' lawyers take their cut. There's another $25 million set aside for workers who may get sick in the future, reports CBS News correspondent Michelle Miller.

A representative of one victims' group expressed reservations Friday that deal doesn't contain enough cash.

"From what I've seen, I don't think you're going to get 95 percent of the people to opt in," said John Feal of the Long Island-based FealGood Foundation. He noted that some workers could wind up getting only a few thousand dollars for illnesses that will bother them for life.

"This is far from fair," he said. "Look, if you've got cancer and are going through chemo and medical bills, $1 million goes pretty fast."

Other ground zero responders were more optimistic. Martin Fullam, a retired New York City fire lieutenant who was diagnosed with the diseases polymyositis and pulmonary fibrosis after putting in long hours at ground zero, called the settlement "a good thing" and said he would probably sign.

"I trust my lawyers," he said, although he added that he wanted first to see how much money he stood to receive.

Fullam noted that no cash payment would make up for the damage to his body. The 53-year-old needed a lung transplant, takes a battery of medications and was back in the hospital again last week for a heart problem.

"This is something that affects the rest of my life. I'll never work again. It has taken years off my life. The quality of my life is not what it was. I feel there is a certain value in there," he said. "It's not about getting a lot of money and moving to Florida and buying a boat."

U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein, who must approve the settlement, declined to reveal his initial impressions of the deal Friday during his first hearing on the subject.

Hellerstein said he needed more time to make sure the deal is "fair, appropriate and just to all affected." He said he would hold another hearing March 19 to let people weigh in on the deal, in a limited fashion.

"It's not going to be a planning board meeting," he warned.

The settlement was announced Thursday evening after years of court maneuvering and then two years of tough negotiations between lawyers for the plaintiffs and the WTC Captive Insurance Co., an entity set up by Congress to help the city deal with the mountain of legal action related to the trade center cleanup.

Most of the settlement will be funded out of a $1 billion grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

The thousands of workers involved in the lawsuit argued that they were sent into the smoking, charred ruins of the trade center with inadequate protection for their lungs.

Many have complained of developing asthma and other respiratory problems in the years since the attacks. Hundreds of others were diagnosed with cancer, complicating the case because little conclusive scientific evidence exists linking that disease to trade center dust.

Payouts under the settlement will be determined on a case-by-case basis, using a complicated formula that factors in the seriousness of each person's illness, as well as their age, previous health history and level of exposure to trade center ash. Payments for the most severely ill could be more than $1 million, but most people stand to receive much less.

First responder Mike McCormack told Miller he has respiratory problems from his time at ground zero and objects to the one-third lawyers are reported to get from the settlement.

"The settlement is deplorable," McCormack said. "It's just another slap in the face of 9-11 responders."

Bern said Friday that he couldn't say immediately what the average award may be under the deal.

"There are so many factors that go into making the determination," he said. But he said the firm would work to get each of its clients an estimate quickly - a necessity, given that workers will have only 90 days to make a decision once the settlement is approved by the judge.

"It certainly will be done in a very short period of time, because people have to know," he said.

[Stevenapoli7]

I thought responders knew their job was hazardous. Should a football player get extra money because he got a concussion? This circus is just a payday for attorney scum.

[sdh26234]

My take on 9/11: Yes, 9/11 made in America, by America, for America, in the shop of complete and absolute lawlessness/anarchy with the Commander in Chief its foreman, in a figure of speech. Yes, the American borders more and more, treated like they do not exist and the laws of Immigration the same, right? If a nation of, God only knows how many million of illegals have invaded America due to its lawlessness/anarchy does not proof of my above conclusion, please speak up? Yes, plus the present despicable illegal drug use by America's millions of dopeheads, the reason of what happens right at the US/Mexican borders, whre innocent Mexicans are killed where America is really the guilt one! Yes, Mr. Joseph Califano in his book entitled: High Society on page 9 he states: "We're 4 percent of the world's population but consume more than half the world's mood-altering and painkilling pharmaceuticals and two-thirds of the world's illegal drugs". So, America, shame on you, while your guns roar all over the world doing nothing but creating more and more problems for the world and for the USA itself. "I am concerned for the security of our great nation; not so much because of any threat from without, but because of the insidiuos forces working from within". By General Douglas MacArthur. I rest my case, for now!

[djseavy]

I have a feeling it's that attorneys who are relieved that the end is in sight. The settlement should include attorney fees, so that 1/3 of the cash doesn't come out of the victim's pocket.

[ClownsOnLeft_Jokers2Right]

Funny how they haven't released all the photos of the Pentagon on 9/11. Especially all the ones that didn't show any plane wreckage.

[scabbard2]

Welcome boys and girls, welcome to the machine. You don't have to tell me, I know where you've been.

[thesevenveils]

These workers deserve more. This settlement amounts to about $67,000 per person. Any one who has been in a hospital for week knows that this amount will not cover medical expenses.

What should be a major factor is the long term health costs associated with their exposure to poisonous and carcinogens from the disaster. And paltry amount won't cut it.

[dwilson59]

67k per a person not even close try 32k if that.

[bradkt1]

The thing that really bothers me about this was how the city, state and federal officials well all assuring the public and the rescue workers that there was no danger. Because I worked with people who do construction and constrution demolition, I was very skeptical at that time and it just seemed to me that their attitude was very callous...as in "well if they just get sick later, we'll just pay them off." I knew that asbestos (and who knows what else) was going to be in the air and that they were going to be breathing it. These people weren't given respirators (in many cases, not even masks) or any of the elementary safety equipment that OSHA would mandate for this kind of work

There was no concern for the rescue workers at all. It was more like the politicians wanted to be seen by the public as doing that they could to try to rescue people.

They deliberately put these people in harm's way and didn't warn them of the dangers or take the proper precautions to protect them.

This whole thing was very callous.

[rockcutr]

Why doesn't it irk anyone that lawyers get a third of these peoples money. This entire case should be pro-bono. Heartless blood suckers.

[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.

[inventagod]

Too bad for these first-responder heros. Breathing thermite will leave a person in such terrible shape! Even Building 7 had melted steel in the basement for weeks, Our EPA really skrewed these people by declaring the air "safe". In other countries, the government would have taken care of these workers health needs, but not in the "land of the free"...

[RoboBlogger]

probably deposited into madoffs account.