|
Police, Firefighters Are Suing City July 2, 2003 By MATTHEW SWEENEY, Staff Reporter of the Sun Firefighters,
police officers, and other uniformed city workers sued the city in record
numbers last year ˆ… overwhelmingly for injuries suffered in the September 11
terror attacks, a new report shows. Bucking a
six-year trend of declining suits against the city, more than 1,000 rescue
workers, who searched in vain through the rubble and clouds of toxic dust at
ground zero for survivors, sued after becoming afflicted with debilitating
respiratory problems, according to the report from city Comptroller William
Thompson. It was not
until late October that the city handed out respirators for everyone at
ground zero, a lawyer who represents numerous claimants said. The 1,194
personal injury claims were seven times the 171 that uniformed workers filed
against the city in 2001. Michael Barasch represents 1,500
firefighters, police officers, and sanitation workers. He said that roughly
1,000 of his clients had viable claims. Hundreds of them have asthma and
other lifelong respiratory problems such as the ground-zero cough and reactive
airways dysfunction syndrome, or RADS, he said. "Itˆ¢s
career-ending to a firefighter," he said. Thousands
of workers toiled at the World Trade Center site, and scientists are still
studying the long-term effects on those with prolonged exposure to the
particle-heavy air filled with fumes from all manner of burning material. The
claims could cost the city hundreds of millions of dollars, Mr. Barasch said.
But
some say few of them are likely to be prosecuted. Mr. Barasch said he is
advising his clients to apply to the multibillion-dollar federal September 11
th Victim Compensation Fund. "When
was the last time you heard a personal injury lawyer say not to sue the city
of New York?" Mr.Barasch said. Michael
Block, general counsel to the Uniformed Firefighters Association, who
represents 500 to 600 firefighters through his firm, said he also expected
his clients to be compensated by the federal fund. Waiting
the average four or five years for a settlement makes no sense when the fund
is giving out fair compensation, Mr. Barasch said. He said
some of his clients have received payments, ranging from $25,000 to more than
$1 million. "Everybody
is hopeful that they will go to the fund," said Fay Leoussis, chief of
the tort division in the cityˆ¢s Law Department. Overall in
2002, personal injury claims cost the city $474.8 million, or 90% of the $525
million it paid out in lawsuits. It was a decline from the $549.3 million the
city paid for personal injury suits in 2001. "What
the numbers say is that we have a long way to go," Mr. Thompson said.
"A half-billion dollars that goes to pay court settlements is money that
doesnˆ¢t go to city services." Ms.
Leoussis attributed the six-year decline in claims to early investigation and
settlements by the comptrollerˆ¢s office. Medical
malpractice took the most money, $190.5 million, from 298 medical suits
against city hospitals. The number of malpractice claims filed rose to 726 in
2002, from 709 in 2001. Sidewalk
accidents led to the second-greatest cost to the city and, for the past 11
years, the highest number of claims. The 2,659 claims against the city for
sidewalk injuries cost $53.1 million. The City
Council voted last week to hold landlords responsible for sidewalk injuries. The law,
which exempts one-, two-, and three-family homes, should save the city about
$40 million, according to the Bloomberg administration. A second law requires
landlords to insure themselves against such suits. "Clearly
the bill that was voted in by the City Council will have a positive
effect," Mr.Thompson said. The New
York State Trial Lawyers Association read the decline in claims against the
city as evidence that the city law is politically motivated. (Copyright
The New York Sun, 2003) Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner.
Further reproduction or distribution is prohibited without permission. |