June 10, 2010 Statement of Special Master Kenneth Feinberg Regarding the In Re: World Trade Center Disaster Site Litigation Amended Settlement Process Agreement
Thank you, your Honor. A few comments. I am honored to serve the court, to serve the parties, and especially to serve the 9/11 heroes of this settlement. This settlement brings to an end one of the final chapters of this 9/11 tragedy.
As I have said publicly for the last seven years, the only reason many of these 10,000 people did not get paid under the 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund is because the fund expired by statute before these victims manifested an injury, so they were foreclosed. The statute had expired. They couldn't get paid.
I have publicly stated over and over again that something must be done to correct this unfairness. This settlement does that. It does that. I will urge every single claimant to participate in this fund, in this settlement. I urge 100 percent of these claimants to file a claim and participate in this compensation program. What is the alternative? What is the alternative? To wait? You are waiting for Godot. You have waited long enough. It's been seven years since the 9/11 fund expired. Wait? Wait for what? This is a real settlement with real money. The judge says it is not perfect. You have waited long enough. Wait is not an option.
In some very important ways this settlement is consistent with the 9/11 Fund statutory principles that govern and resulted in 97 percent participation. Don't forget, that 9/11 Fund drew 97 percent eligible participation. And in many ways, this proposed settlement that I have examined is better than the 9/11 Fund. You will get payment of dollars quicker, you are guaranteed by filing a simple claim form and demonstrating you were there at the site, you are guaranteed quicker payment and a minimum payment that wasn't available to you in the 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund. So in many respects, when I examine this settlement, it is actually in many respects an improvement over the 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund.
I want to thank the parties. I take this very personally after seven years of waiting to see if these claimants were going to be provided compensation. I want to thank the parties to this lawsuit. I want to thank the lawyers for their effort. I want to thank the mayor of New York. The mayor of New York has been urging me for seven years to testify in Congress and to promote the notion of fair compensation. And I want to thank Michael Cardozo and his colleague Larry Kahn, who is here also today. We have talked over the years -- the years -- about trying to bring some sort of settlement that would get compensation to eligible claimants.
But, most importantly, I have agreed to do this at the request of Judge Hellerstein. I have publicly stated that the 9/11 Fund would have never achieved the success it did without the help of Judge Hellerstein and this court. This court, back in 2002 and '3, urged eligible claimants to come in to the Fund. It wasn't just my urging. It was the court urging. And the fact that the court, that the same judge is now signing this order with the credibility that this court has about the wisdom of this settlement, just like the court promoted the wisdom of the 9/11 Fund I think is an enormous credible factor in encouraging every litigant to come into this program.
I will do this at the court's request. I will do it pro bono. I am not interested in doing anything but encouraging the heroes of 9/11 to take advantage of this program. Under the settlement, as I understand that, I have final authority under the program, the judge ultimately rules, but I have final authority over who is eligible and how much those individuals will receive. I will be glad, as I was during the 9/11 Fund, to meet with those claimants, to review their claim, to review the amount that they have been awarded, and to rule on whether that eligibility determination is valid and whether that amount is appropriate under the settlement. I have agreed to do that, I will do it pro bono. We owe it to those heroes of 9/11.
Final point, I will take time, as I did under the 9/11 Fund, I will take time over the next few weeks to visit firehouses, to conduct town hall meetings, to explain to any claimants who want to meet at convenient times and places to ask me, as they did seven years ago, why, Mr. Feinberg, is it in my interest to come into this program? I will do that. I will make time to make sure that every claimant who wants to understands why I am a proponent of this settlement, why I think it is fair and reasonable, why I am glad to stand with the court in promoting the settlement, and why I think that, in the absence of a realistic alternative, every single claimant should take advantage of this settlement.
hank you, your Honor.
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