By now, everyone knows that Ken Feinberg, the special master of the Victim Compensation Fund (VCF), issued many significant awards to the rescue workers at the WTC site who sustained permanent disabilities. What many people fail to appreciate is just how incredibly compassionate and flexible Mr. Feinberg was. When Congress first enacted the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund, only those rescue workers who sought medical care within the first 24 hours were eligible to make a claim. Since the buildings burned for 99 days while hundreds of rescue workers were missing, almost no one bothered to seek medical care for their hacking cough and shortness of breath.
They worked without proper respiratory protection for weeks and months while breathing toxic air and dust.
As word traveled of the changes in the Fund's eligibility rules, nearly 500 more rescue workers came to us in the three months prior to the 12/22/03 deadline. Well over 100 more came to us after the deadline to handle the claims that they had filed "pro se" (on their own). Still more came to us after receiving an initial award that was too low. We gladly handled their appeals.
Attesting to our firm's unwavering commitment to rescue workers, no one at our law firm complained about forgoing Christmas parties and their social lives. The feeling at our firm was that we were all doing a once-in-a-lifetime job for the rescue workers who had given so much of themselves for us. We added a night staff for nearly a year to ensure that each claim was properly filed. In addition, we spent a significant part of 2004 supplementing our clients' claims with up-to-date medical records, change in duty status reports, (MD-206's), evidence of their permanent disability and proof of future economic loss. To do that, we retained economists, pulmonologists and actuaries. No two claims were alike and we wanted to ensure that we got every claimant what they were entitled to. We were committed to appealing every award that we thought was unfair. Altogether, we appealed more initial awards than any other firm in the country. While most of the initial awards were fair and generous, our appeals of these awards confirmed that the system worked. In almost every case where Mr. Feinberg rendered an award that we felt was too low, he increased it upon proof that the claimant was entitled to a significant increase.
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In, "After: How America Confronted the September 12 Era," author Steven Brill tells the story of Barasch McGarry's representation of these rescue workers (you can read excerpts of Mr. Brill's book by clicking on the article entitled, "After"). Mr. Brill documents Michael Barasch's fortuitous meeting in Jamaica with Mr. Feinberg on Christmas morning, 2001.
That meeting led to a series of emails, formal conferences, and presentations to Mr. Feinberg by our firm in an attempt to modify the eligibility rules of the VCF. At our urging (and our presentation of medical documentation and witnesses), Mr. Feinberg concluded that severe asthma and Hyper-Reactive Airways Disease Syndrome (RADS) were indeed latent physical injuries. Mr. Feinberg exercised his discretion and permitted our claims on behalf of over 1,000 Firefighters and rescue workers who sustained respiratory damage.
Barasch McGarry is extremely proud of the role that we played in shaping the eligibility rules at the VCF and the results we achieved. However, our accomplishments would not have been possible without Special Master Ken Feinberg. At every turn, he was accessible and fair. We recognize that he was charged with a monumental and historical task, and we thank him for always being fair, compassionate and enabling us to help thousands of rescue workers recover for the injuries that they suffered as a result of the World Trade Center attacks.
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