City To Settle 9/11 Responder Lawsuits For $657 Million
Photograph of responders in World Trade Center wreckage on September 11, 2001 by Stan Honda
After years of litigation, New York City has agreed to settle thousands of lawsuits from September 11, 2001 responders who were sickened by the toxic conditions at the World Trade Center site. It's believed the settlement is around $657.5 million with over 10,000 responders; the Daily News reports, "The pact - which must be approved by a judge and 95% of the plaintiffs - creates a point system for payouts based on the severity of each person's illness."
The city and 9/11 responders have been fighting in and out of court for years about the toxic debris. According to the Post "severity charts" have been created "that would grade individual conditions on a scale from zero to four — and determine the amount paid to each worker. Individual payments could run as high as $1 million, according to one lawyer," while the minimum would be $3,200. Also: "Some would get an insurance policy to cover Ground Zero-related illnesses that have not yet developed... People with stress related and other psychological problems would not be compensated."
A lawyer who represented over 9,000 plaintiffs told the NY Times, "This is a good settlement and 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."
