Related Item
Two studies released little more than two months apart have reached different conclusions about the cancer risk from Ground Zero exposure. The National Institutes of Occupational Safety and Health reported in July there was no evidence of a meaningful link between Ground Zero exposure and cancers in first responders or others. It cautioned that no evidence of a link was not the same as evidence of no link. It's the first of a series of annual reviews of the scientific and medical evidence of links of cancer and Ground Zero exposure.
Now the medical journal the Lancet is set to publish a study showing a link between certain cancers and exposure at Ground Zero. This finding provides support for including cancer among the illnesses compensable under the James Zadroga Health & Compensation Act.
Update
House Republicans blocked a Democrat plan to provide billions of dollars of aid to 9/11 victims. The bill would have provided $3.2 billion over the next eight years for medical monitoring and treatment of rescue workers and New York City residents exposed to toxic dust and debris at ground zero.
The measure also called for $4.2 billion to reopen the Sept. 11 Victim Compensation Fund to provide compensation for job and economic losses. Republican Representatives balked at the cost of the proposed program and feared it lacked sufficient safeguards to prevent fraud and waste.
Original Article
Following the September 11th terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center, thousands of workers at ground zero brought lawsuits against the city of New York and its contractors. The first trial dates were scheduled to begin in May. However, the future is uncertain after a New York federal judge threw out the settlement offer.
The Lawsuits
In 2004, nearly 10,000 rescue and cleanup workers initiated lawsuits against 90 government agencies and private companies. The workers include fire fighters, police officers, construction workers and other people who worked to clean up the site where the twin towers collapsed after they were struck on September 11, 2001. They are suing over illnesses and injuries ranging from respiratory ailments to cancer they claim resulted from working at the World Trade Center site after the terrorist attack.
The Plaintiffs
The workers claim the City, along with its contractors and other major defendants, such as the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey didn't do enough to protect their safety and supervision to shield them from exposure to contaminants at Ground Zero. These workers are seeking compensatory damages for pain and suffering and economic loss, and some are also seeking money for future medical monitoring.
The Defendants
The defendants in the case argue there is no provable link between the illnesses of plaintiffs and exposure at ground zero. They contend that many plaintiffs are making false claims.
Furthermore, the city of New York has argued that it's immune from damages in cases involving a civil defense disaster or a national emergency.
The Complexity of the Cases
Although the cases have been consolidated, they're being considered separately and not as a class-action lawsuit. The court, plaintiff's lawyers, and the city have selected a small group of test cases to bring to trial and hope their verdicts will guide settlement of the remaining lawsuits.
The litigation in these cases is quite complicated and political. There are hundreds of lawyers working on these cases, and the court documents number more than tens of millions of pages.
Further, these cases are not only emotionally and politically charged, but from a legal aspect they're troubling. Establishing cause and effect is difficult, as in other cases involving exposure to environmental hazards.
However, these cases are even more difficult because according to some experts, the collapse and burning of the two towers created an unfamiliar toxic soup from the dust and fumes. This is a relatively new claim and it's difficult to get expert testimony on its damage.
Even more, the cases also involve thousands of people claiming hundreds of different ailments of varying severity. Many of them were subject to different types of exposure over different periods.
The Settlement
In March, after more than six years of negotiations and litigation, Ground Zero workers and the insurance company handling the claims for the City of New York reached a $657 million settlement. This figure was planned to be split by the 10,000 plaintiffs according to the severity of their illnesses, and workers stood to get amounts ranging from a few thousand dollars to more than $1 million.
The lawyers for the plaintiffs seemed pleased with the settlement. But the judge stunned lawyers from both sides and rejected the settlement, claiming it wasn't enough. The judge explained that he feared that police officers, fire fighters and other laborers who cleared rubble after the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks were being pushed into signing the offer which they didn't fully understand.
Under the terms of the settlement, workers had been given only 90 days to say yes or no to the deal. Furthermore, the judge criticized the deal because it assigned payment based on a complex point system. Lastly, Hellerstein said the deal should be bigger and pointed out that too much of it would be eaten up by legal fees which would likely be a third or more of the settlement amount.
Explaining that he was acting out of a moral obligation, Judge Hellerstein demanded changes in the settlement, including adding millions of dollars more for the sick and reducing the cost of legal fees.