City Agrees To Settle Thousands Of WTC Health Claims

The city has agreed to a settlement worth up to $657 million in more than 10,000 lawsuits filed by September 11th rescue and response workers. Workers who claim they suffered an array of illnesses from the dust and debris at the ruins of the World Trade Center would receive compensation if the settlement is approved by a judge and the workers themselves. The settlement was announced Thursday by the WTC Captive Insurance Company, a special entity established to cover the city and its contractors against potential legal action as they moved to clean up the site. The deal would make the city and other companies represented by the WTC captive 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. To recover under the settlement, each plaintiff will have to submit proof that he or she was present and participated in the rescue, recovery and debris removal operations, as well as provide specific medical documentation and a doctor’s diagnosis confirming their claimed illness or injury. Attorneys for the plaintiffs and WTC Captive will choose an independent third party expert to review each claim. For the settlement to be enforced, 95 percent of the workers would need to agree to be bound by its terms. A majority of the thousands of suits filed against the city were based on complaints of respiratory problems. However, the suits also sought damages for hundreds of other types of ailments, including cancer. "Mentally it helps me, physical, no. I'm never going to have the life I had no matter what. I'm 52 years old and they told me I've got the lungs of a 90-year-old man," said September 11th first responder Gabrielle Pacino. In a statement, Mayor Michael Bloomberg called the settlement "a fair and reasonable resolution to a complex set of circumstances."