Lawyers for 9-11 Responders Would Take One-Third Under Settlement
Rescue and cleanup workers at the destroyed World Trade Center site have reached a settlement that creates a compensation system similar to the one established for the families of the victims of the Sept. 11 attack.
The settlement will be paid by an insurance company funded by the federal government to help New York City manage insurance costs in connection with the Sept. 11 cleanup, the New York Law Journal reports. Plaintiffs’ lawyers would receive a third of the settlement amounts in legal fees under the deal, according to the New York Times.
The plaintiffs had claimed their Ground Zero work led to illnesses that included asthma and cancer. The defendants are New York City and its contractors.
About 10,000 plaintiffs could be covered by the deal, which won’t take effect unless at least 95 percent of the plaintiffs accept it, the Times says. The payout ranges from $575 million if only 95 percent of the plaintiffs accept the deal, to $657.5 million if 100 percent accept it.
Payouts are expected to vary from thousands of dollars to more than $1 million. A claims administrator will decide claims and compensation.
