Deal reached on ground zero health claims

[Amerigo Vespucci]

Source: MSNBC

NEW YORK - New York City has agreed to pay up to $657 million to settle more than 10,000 lawsuits filed by ground zero rescue and response workers who say they were sickened by World Trade Center dust.

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 attacks.

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

Most of the money would come out of a $1 billion grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Read more: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35827352/ns/us_news-life/

[LakeSamish706]

1. Dupe! n/t

[Rosa Luxemburg]

2. obviously feeling guilty?

[midnight]

3. It makes me wonder why this was so drawn out.

[cal04]

4. Ground Zero Workers Reach Deal Over Health Claims

Source: NY Times

A settlement of up to $657.5 million has been reached in the cases of thousands of rescue and cleanup workers at ground zero who sued the city over damage to their health, according to city officials and lawyers for the plaintiffs.

They said that the settlement would compensate about 10,000 plaintiffs according to the severity of their illnesses and the level of their exposure to contaminants at the World Trade Center site.

Lawyers from both sides met on Thursday to discuss the terms of the settlement with Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York.

Payouts to the plaintiffs would come out of a federally financed insurance company with funds of about $1.1 billion that insures the city. At least 95 percent of the plaintiffs must accept its terms for it to take effect. If 100 percent of the plaintiffs agree to the terms, the total settlement would be $657.5 million. But if only the required 95 percent agreed, the total would shrink to $575 million.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/12/science/earth/12zero.html?hp

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http://www.newsday.com/news/new-york/nyc-settles-with-thousands-of-wtc-responders-1.1806946

[truedelphi]

5. What good news concerning a very well deserving group of people

Sadly for many this deal comes too late.

May they rest in peace.

[Javaman]

9. ghouliani and witman should be forced pay a huge portion of that.

those two willing tools are responsible for most of the ailments.

ghouliani for denying upgrades to the emergency communication system and also along with witless witman, allowing workers on site when they knew full well the area was toxic, yet they looked the other way, smiled and laughed.

fuck them.

[Cetacea]

6. 10,000 claims over 9/11 illness, injuries settled

Source: CNN

New York (CNN) -- The WTC Captive Insurance Co. announced settlements Thursday with more than 10,000 plaintiffs who claimed sickness or injuries after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. The settlements could total up to $657 million.

WTC Captive was created with a $1 billion FEMA grant and provides insurance coverage to the City of New York and its debris-removal contractors. In the aftermath of attacks of September 11, 2001, New York was unable to get adequate amounts of liability insurance for the rescue, recovery and debris-removal work done at the World Trade Center site.

The settlement would provide a system to pay for the compensation of the injury claims made by people working on the rescue and debris removal for the city and its contractors. This would include construction workers, firefighters, police officers and other workers and volunteers. The settlement would also fund a special insurance policy, which provides additional compensation to any plaintiff contracting certain types of cancer in the future.

Christine LaSala, president of WTC Captive, said in a statement: "We have reached a settlement that is fair under difficult and complicated circumstances. This agreement enables workers and volunteers claiming injury from the WTC site operations to obtain compensation commensurate with the nature of their injuries and the strength of their claims, while offering added protection against possible future illness."

Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/03/11/world.trade.center.suit/?hpt=T1

[Journeyman]

7. Couple of years late for my friend Dave. . .

but then, he was very proud of the work he did in those ruins.

[No Elephants]

8. I'm sorry for your loss. He had much reason to be proud.