Most 9/11 Responders in New York Agree to $625M Settlement re World Trade Center Health Claims
They aren’t necessarily happy about it. However, over 10,000 plaintiffs who have sought for seven years to hold the city of New York and its contractors responsible for alleged health injuries suffered by police, firefighters and others responding to the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attack on the World Trade Center and its aftermath have agreed to accept a $625 million settlement.
The 10,043 who agreed to the pact represent 95.1 percent of the total pool of 10,563 plaintiffs, a shade over the 95 percent required to conclude the Manhattan federal court case, reports the New York Times.
Although New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg called the settlement “a fair and just resolution of these claims, protecting those who came to the aid of this city when we needed it most,” many plaintiffs reluctantly accepted what they felt was an inadequate settlement, according to the Times and the New York Daily News.
Jennifer McNamara, the single mother of a 3-year-old son, will get $76,000 following the death of her firefighter husband of colon cancer last year. And attorney’s fees and costs will be subtracted from that $76,000 before the final payout, the Times recounts.
She had initially decided to refuse what she considers an insultingly small amount, but decided to opt in, she explained to friends in a letter, because doing so might slow down the settlement for others who really need the money to pay their housing and medical costs.
Describing the decision to settle as “emotionally agonizing and draining,” she said she will never be completely at peace with it “but I don’t know what more to do.”
