The vast majority of families of 9/11 victims are still too traumatized or suspicious of the government to apply for compensation for their suffering, even though million-dollar-plus packages are already in the mail.
“We’ve just given more than a million dollars, tax-free, to one man’s family,” said Kenneth Feinberg, the special master overseeing the government’s multibillion-dollar Victims Compensation Fund. “We want to encourage people to apply. We want them to know that we will be fair and evenhanded.”
Only about 650 out of about 3,300 victims eligible, or about 20 percent, have applied for compensation, Feinberg said. About two dozen packages said to be in the million-dollar range have already gone out.
But sources said a large number of victims’ families are avoiding the government compensation scheme because they are exploring suing the airlines, the city or the Port Authority. Taking the compensation precludes their right to sue.
Feinberg confirmed that the first payment from the fund has gone out to the family of one young financial services employee killed in the disaster, who accepted a $1.04 million award. Attorneys working on similar cases said two dozen victims’ families could also receive substantial packages within the next few days.
Attorney Roberta Gordon, who represented the young victim’s family, said his relatives had reacted “very emotionally to the decision, not because of the money, but because there’s a feeling of relief. It’s the beginning of the grieving process.”
She said that while many relatives were waiting to see how the fund was administered, early signs were encouraging.
“This man [Feinberg] has an almost impossible task, but he’s doing his best to be fair. He takes it very seriously and he cares deeply about how [the relatives] feel.”
Feinberg said many families were “holding back because they’re skeptical, they’re suspicious and uncertain . . . They want to see what I do, so I hope people will see that these are just amounts, that we’re being fair and sympathetic.”
He said the working sessions with the victims’ families had been gut-wrenching.
“It’s an enormously emotional experience to hear the stories of their loss and suffering. You’d have to have a heart of stone not to be affected,” he said. “They want to explain why their loved ones should be valued highly, and I have to try to determine what is fair.”