By DEVLIN BARRETT
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) - A third of the injury claims to the government's
Sept. 11 victim compensation fund have been turned down, mainly for lack
of medical proof or because ailments had cleared up.
The fund has received 4,419 injury claims, significantly more than
administrators expected when the application period ended late last year.
Almost 1,600 have been rejected, fund officials said.
The 2,321 people granted compensation, almost all from injuries
sustained at the World Trade Center Twin Towers cleanup sites, received
between $500 and $7.9 million. Decisions on the remaining roughly 500
claims will be made by June 15.
Only a small percentage of the claims were for injuries sustained in
the panicked evacuation of the towers and of downtown Manhattan. Most
sought money for long-term breathing problems attributed to working on
``the pile,'' the mountain of burning rubble left when the centers' towers
collapsed.
In making their determinations, fund administrators seek proof the
applicant was at Ground Zero within 72 hours of the terror attacks, or 96
hours in the case of rescue workers. They also insist on medical
documentation of the claimed injuries.
Jerry Johnson, a 56-year-old Ground Zero volunteer from Jasper County,
Texas, received his official notice denying him compensation Friday.
``I'm disappointed to a degree, but not really angry,'' said Johnson,
who said it was far more important that the fund provide for the families
of those killed.
Johnson, a search-and-rescue worker, said he arrived at Ground Zero on
Sept. 14, 2001, although he got a site pass only on Sept. 15. His doctor
has since diagnosed him with pulmonary fibrosis. Johnson said he has
difficulty breathing and ``absolutely zero'' ability to exert himself.
``I'm now totally disabled,'' he said. Fund administrators did not find
a clear link between his time on the pile and his medical condition, which
wasn't diagnosed by a doctor until several months later.
The fund's special master, Kenneth Feinberg, emphasized he found little
or no attempted fraud.
``These 1,500 or so people that were denied, they were unsure of
whether the program would provide them with the compensation, so they
filed unsure of the rules and regulations,'' Feinberg said. ``I think
these folks filed a claim perfectly legitimately and later found they
weren't covered.''
Michael Block, a lawyer who has done pro bono work for hundreds of
firefighters applying to the fund, said scores of his clients essentially
dropped out early in the process.
``It turns out their problems went away, and the amount of the
potential award they might get would be so minimal, it made no sense to
pursue it since they were waiving their rights to any future claims,''
Block said.
For the overwhelming majority of injured claimants, Block said, the
fund has fairly addressed their needs.
``I think it's worked pretty darn well,'' he said.
Lawyer Michael Barasch has represented hundreds of injury claims to the
fund, many brought by downtown office workers, and said only 12 of his
clients were rejected.
Of the hundreds of others denied compensation, Barasch termed many of
them ``place-holders,'' or people who had submitted paperwork to preserve
their rights but did nothing to follow up on their claim.
Fund officials would not say how much they've paid out for injury
claims, because many of the final awards have yet to be calculated.
Nearly all the families of those killed in the attacks have filed for
federal compensation. To date, the average payout has been almost $1.9
million for a death claim, and the median payout $1.46 million.
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On the Net:
Sept. 11 Victim Compensation Fund:
http://www.usdoj.gov/victimcompensation/
