Gold9472
03-12-2009, 01:23 PM
Debate Continues on Whether 9/11 Victims Who Sued Fared Better Financially
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/13/nyregion/13lawsuits.html?ref=nyregion
By BENJAMIN WEISER
Published: March 12, 2009
After the 9/11 terror attacks, thousands of people faced a weighty and uncomfortable decision. Congress had created a special fund to compensate survivors’ and victims’ families, but said that those who received compensation from it could not sue airlines or airport security firms, among other entities.
Survivors had to decide whether to accept an early, assured payment from the fund or take their chances in the court, possibly facing legal hardball tactics, delays and the risk of losing.
In the end, a vast majority sought compensation from the fund, which paid out more than $7 billion to survivors of 2,880 people who were killed and to thousands of others who were injured.
Now, more than seven years after the attacks, a new court report suggests that the small minority who went their own way and sued made out better financially: 93 of the 96 claims have been settled, for an average of $5 million, or more than twice the average payment from the special fund.
But calculating cost and benefit is never easy when lives are involved. If anything, the report released last week by United States District Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein, who has overseen the lawsuits, refocuses attention on the variety of goals — money, answers, justice, peace of mind — that victims and survivors had to weigh in the wake of an overwhelming loss.
Kenneth R. Feinberg, the special master who administered the government’s Victim Compensation Fund, said in an interview that comparing court settlements with the fund’s quicker payouts was pointless.
Those who sued, he said, ended up paying legal fees and court costs, and waited for years for money they could have received earlier and invested. “I’d be surprised if they netted out a better dollar award or psychological satisfaction than if they had taken the fund,” he said.
“We encouraged people to try to move on,” he added. “ ‘Get it behind you. Remarry. Get a new life. Don’t live this for 5 or 10 years.’ ”
But Donald A. Migliori, a lawyer whose firm handled about 60 suits and 40 fund cases, said there was no question that, on average, those who sued fared better financially than those who accepted fund money. “You absolutely can compare those numbers,” he said.
He said Mr. Feinberg had “sold the victim compensation fund through fear, by suggesting to people that they would never do any better.”
Mr. Feinberg waved away the criticism. “Spoken like an excellent trial lawyer,” he said.
Many families chose the fund because it offered a relatively quick resolution — the process was completed within 33 months.
Herbert E. Nass, a lawyer who represented the parents of Ingeborg Lariby, a 42-year-old office manager who worked in the trade center, said his clients had wanted to put the matter behind them.
“They were never motivated by money,” he said. “Even if they felt they could have gotten double what we got from the panel, it wouldn’t have mattered.”
Gillian K. Hadfield, a law professor at the University of Southern California, surveyed about 140 people who lost a relative and were eligible to file with the fund — as part of a study published last year on how people chose between doing so or suing.
She said many opted for the fund’s payout because of pressing financial needs, like the loss of a breadwinner; but they later felt a range of emotions — “discomfort, regret, shame, anger” — that they had not filed suits, which might have provided more information, accountability and change.
One widow agonized over whether applying to the fund might do a disservice to her husband and other victims’ families, because suing seemed to be the only way to find out why the attacks happened, said her lawyer, Ralph F. Sbrogna of Worcester, Mass.
He said the woman also feared that families who sued might lose and end up with nothing. She ultimately accepted a payment from the fund, he said, “for the sake of her children,” to get whatever she could for their education and future.
Yet for some of those who decided to sue, the fear of losing in court was not a worry.
“It was never a risk to me because it was never about getting more money,” said Julie Sweeney Roth, who sued United Air Lines and other defendants for the death of her husband, Brian D. Sweeney, 38, who was aboard United Flight 175 when it hit the south tower of the World Trade Center.
“I wanted to know why and how this happened in this country,” Ms. Roth said. “If suing for money is how I have to do it, then that’s what I’m going to do.”
But she said that the legal process became oppressive, and Ms. Roth, who remarried, settled her lawsuit two years ago. “I moved forward,” she said, confident that others would “see this through to the end to get the answers we all deserve.”
In his report, Judge Hellerstein summarized the litigation, involving lawsuits were filed on behalf of 96 victims — 85 for wrongful deaths and 11 for injuries.
He noted that some families of victims with high incomes chose to sue because they believed that the fund would not adequately compensate them. The fund’s payouts in wrongful death cases averaged about $2.1 million.
The judge said he took steps to assure fairness in the process, capping legal fees at 15 percent of settlements and decreeing that “like parties should expect like settlements.” He even rejected four settlements, which ranged from $5.5 million to $8 million, as “disproportionately large.”
The process was aided enormously, he said, by his appointment of a mediator, Sheila L. Birnbaum, a partner at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, who, with the help of a colleague, Thomas E. Fox, resolved 72 cases.
In an interview, Ms. Birnbaum said that settlement amounts were influenced by factors like income, family situations and state wrongful-death laws, but added, “At the end of the day, it’s what’s offered and what’s accepted.”
Desmond T. Barry Jr. of Condon & Forsyth, a lawyer for the defendants, declined comment, except to say that cases were settled without admissions of liability or wrongdoing.
The agreements required that the amounts the plaintiffs received be kept confidential.
Judge Hellerstein wrote that he had encouraged litigants to apply to the fund “and get a good recovery — maybe not the best, but you don’t have to prove anything”
The judge knew from experience that “lawsuits are not really effective in letting people get to what the real problems were,” he added. “They’re not good tools for investigation.”
But Mr. Migliori, the plaintiffs’ lawyer, who is a partner at Motley Rice, disagreed. He said that during the discovery process, the lawsuits had turned up mountains of material that helped explain the security breakdowns that allowed the attacks to take place.
That material remains largely confidential, he said, adding that the plaintiffs in the three unresolved lawsuits are seeking to have it made public as part of any settlement.
One of Mr. Migliori’s clients who was compensated through the fund was Alice Hoagland of Los Gatos, Calif. Her son Mark Bingham, 31, was a passenger on United Flight 93 who fought back against the hijackers before the plane crashed in Shanksville, Pa.
She said that she felt only admiration for families who sued, even if they settled without a public trial.
“It was a harrowing and brave way to go,” Ms. Hoagland said. “They have earned every cent.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/13/nyregion/13lawsuits.html?ref=nyregion
By BENJAMIN WEISER
Published: March 12, 2009
After the 9/11 terror attacks, thousands of people faced a weighty and uncomfortable decision. Congress had created a special fund to compensate survivors’ and victims’ families, but said that those who received compensation from it could not sue airlines or airport security firms, among other entities.
Survivors had to decide whether to accept an early, assured payment from the fund or take their chances in the court, possibly facing legal hardball tactics, delays and the risk of losing.
In the end, a vast majority sought compensation from the fund, which paid out more than $7 billion to survivors of 2,880 people who were killed and to thousands of others who were injured.
Now, more than seven years after the attacks, a new court report suggests that the small minority who went their own way and sued made out better financially: 93 of the 96 claims have been settled, for an average of $5 million, or more than twice the average payment from the special fund.
But calculating cost and benefit is never easy when lives are involved. If anything, the report released last week by United States District Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein, who has overseen the lawsuits, refocuses attention on the variety of goals — money, answers, justice, peace of mind — that victims and survivors had to weigh in the wake of an overwhelming loss.
Kenneth R. Feinberg, the special master who administered the government’s Victim Compensation Fund, said in an interview that comparing court settlements with the fund’s quicker payouts was pointless.
Those who sued, he said, ended up paying legal fees and court costs, and waited for years for money they could have received earlier and invested. “I’d be surprised if they netted out a better dollar award or psychological satisfaction than if they had taken the fund,” he said.
“We encouraged people to try to move on,” he added. “ ‘Get it behind you. Remarry. Get a new life. Don’t live this for 5 or 10 years.’ ”
But Donald A. Migliori, a lawyer whose firm handled about 60 suits and 40 fund cases, said there was no question that, on average, those who sued fared better financially than those who accepted fund money. “You absolutely can compare those numbers,” he said.
He said Mr. Feinberg had “sold the victim compensation fund through fear, by suggesting to people that they would never do any better.”
Mr. Feinberg waved away the criticism. “Spoken like an excellent trial lawyer,” he said.
Many families chose the fund because it offered a relatively quick resolution — the process was completed within 33 months.
Herbert E. Nass, a lawyer who represented the parents of Ingeborg Lariby, a 42-year-old office manager who worked in the trade center, said his clients had wanted to put the matter behind them.
“They were never motivated by money,” he said. “Even if they felt they could have gotten double what we got from the panel, it wouldn’t have mattered.”
Gillian K. Hadfield, a law professor at the University of Southern California, surveyed about 140 people who lost a relative and were eligible to file with the fund — as part of a study published last year on how people chose between doing so or suing.
She said many opted for the fund’s payout because of pressing financial needs, like the loss of a breadwinner; but they later felt a range of emotions — “discomfort, regret, shame, anger” — that they had not filed suits, which might have provided more information, accountability and change.
One widow agonized over whether applying to the fund might do a disservice to her husband and other victims’ families, because suing seemed to be the only way to find out why the attacks happened, said her lawyer, Ralph F. Sbrogna of Worcester, Mass.
He said the woman also feared that families who sued might lose and end up with nothing. She ultimately accepted a payment from the fund, he said, “for the sake of her children,” to get whatever she could for their education and future.
Yet for some of those who decided to sue, the fear of losing in court was not a worry.
“It was never a risk to me because it was never about getting more money,” said Julie Sweeney Roth, who sued United Air Lines and other defendants for the death of her husband, Brian D. Sweeney, 38, who was aboard United Flight 175 when it hit the south tower of the World Trade Center.
“I wanted to know why and how this happened in this country,” Ms. Roth said. “If suing for money is how I have to do it, then that’s what I’m going to do.”
But she said that the legal process became oppressive, and Ms. Roth, who remarried, settled her lawsuit two years ago. “I moved forward,” she said, confident that others would “see this through to the end to get the answers we all deserve.”
In his report, Judge Hellerstein summarized the litigation, involving lawsuits were filed on behalf of 96 victims — 85 for wrongful deaths and 11 for injuries.
He noted that some families of victims with high incomes chose to sue because they believed that the fund would not adequately compensate them. The fund’s payouts in wrongful death cases averaged about $2.1 million.
The judge said he took steps to assure fairness in the process, capping legal fees at 15 percent of settlements and decreeing that “like parties should expect like settlements.” He even rejected four settlements, which ranged from $5.5 million to $8 million, as “disproportionately large.”
The process was aided enormously, he said, by his appointment of a mediator, Sheila L. Birnbaum, a partner at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, who, with the help of a colleague, Thomas E. Fox, resolved 72 cases.
In an interview, Ms. Birnbaum said that settlement amounts were influenced by factors like income, family situations and state wrongful-death laws, but added, “At the end of the day, it’s what’s offered and what’s accepted.”
Desmond T. Barry Jr. of Condon & Forsyth, a lawyer for the defendants, declined comment, except to say that cases were settled without admissions of liability or wrongdoing.
The agreements required that the amounts the plaintiffs received be kept confidential.
Judge Hellerstein wrote that he had encouraged litigants to apply to the fund “and get a good recovery — maybe not the best, but you don’t have to prove anything”
The judge knew from experience that “lawsuits are not really effective in letting people get to what the real problems were,” he added. “They’re not good tools for investigation.”
But Mr. Migliori, the plaintiffs’ lawyer, who is a partner at Motley Rice, disagreed. He said that during the discovery process, the lawsuits had turned up mountains of material that helped explain the security breakdowns that allowed the attacks to take place.
That material remains largely confidential, he said, adding that the plaintiffs in the three unresolved lawsuits are seeking to have it made public as part of any settlement.
One of Mr. Migliori’s clients who was compensated through the fund was Alice Hoagland of Los Gatos, Calif. Her son Mark Bingham, 31, was a passenger on United Flight 93 who fought back against the hijackers before the plane crashed in Shanksville, Pa.
She said that she felt only admiration for families who sued, even if they settled without a public trial.
“It was a harrowing and brave way to go,” Ms. Hoagland said. “They have earned every cent.”