9-11 compensation fund is taking shape.

The September 11th Victim Compensation Fund became law on September 22, when President Bush signed it as part of a bill that gave financial relief to the airline industry. That industry had made a powerful case to Congress that the terrorist attacks left some of its members at risk of bankruptcy. ATLA--on behalf of the thousands of innocent victims of the terrorists--immediately convinced Congress that no industry should be assisted before the financial rescue of victims' families was assured, and the fund was born.

ATLA and Trial Lawyers Care--the program the association created to provide access to free legal representation to the victims and their families in claims before the fund--worked for three months to advocate for the best possible regulations to govern the fund's operation. The Department of Justice (DOJ) issued interim regulations effective December 21, and the contours of the fund began to emerge.

There is much good news in the regulations. Our primary goal from day one-providing for the financial needs of the victims' families--is now virtually assured. The regulations contain tables of estimated awards, called "presumptions," to help victims decide whether the fund is right for them. An applicant can either accept the amount or seek more by presenting evidence (in writing or at a hearing) of extraordinary circumstances that are not adequately addressed by the presumptive award.

Consider, for example, the table below, which shows guaranteed minimum awards (including both economic and noneconomic components, but before collateral benefits are offset) for the family of a married decedent with two dependent children. The spouse of a married decedent with no children would receive between $150,000 and $200,000 less.

There are other significant benefits as well. Under the regulations, a decedent's family in financial hardship can receive an immediate payment of $50,000 (or $25,000 for victims with serious personal injuries). Although the statute that created the fund requires that certain collateral benefits--such as life insurance and Social Security (minus the cost to, and the contributions of, the decedent)--be deducted from the estimated awards, payments from charities will not be. And under no circumstances will the family of a decedent receive less than $250,000 from the fund.

Kenneth Feinberg, who, as the fund's special master, administers the regulations, has stated publicly that there will be no cap on any individual claim or on the fund as a whole. Claimants earning more than $225,000 per year--the highest income level for which a table was published--may prove what they believe to be their full economic loss. Payment will be swift--within 140 days of filing the claim--and tax free. Although fund claimants may not sue traditional tort defendants (they must elect one remedy or the other), they may sue the terrorists.

The regulations do contain features ATLA vehemently opposed. Chief among them are the low noneconomic damages presumptions: $250,000 for a decedent's pain and suffering, and a miserly $50,000 for a surviving spouse and each child. Victims' groups citing jury verdicts, and elected leaders in New York, have harshly criticized these values, as has ATLA.

But as you consider those amounts, keep three realities in mind.

First, the fund is a nonadversarial government relief fund for crime victims and does not require that they prove duty, negligence, fault, causation, or financial hardship to recover. I believe that to most Americans, what happened on September 11 was a mass murder, not a mass tort. The DOJ did not find a compelling reason to compare the noneconomic damages presumptions to jury verdicts, and we couldn't move their numbers.

Second, the regulations were crafted by parties who have always opposed victim compensation: Attorney General John Ashcroft and the Bush administration. Low figures for noneconomic damages came as no surprise.

And third, these presumptions can be exceeded if a claimart provides proof at a hearing--and that's precisely what our 3,000 volunteer lawyers intend to help victims do.

Trial Lawyers Care has had a successful and promising launch. Now it's time for us to do what we do best: help deliver justice to deserving families.

Annual Salary and Benefits

           $30,000       $60,000       $90,000

Age 25      $1.3M         $2.2M         $3.0M
    30      $1.2M         $1.9M         $2.6M
    35      $966K         $1.5M         $2.0M
    45      $788K         $1.1M         $1.5M

          $150,000      $200,000      $225,000

Age 25      $4.5M         $5.6M         $6.1M
    30      $3.9M         $4.8M         $5.2M
    35      $2.8M         $3.5M         $3.8M
    45      $2.0M         $2.5M         $2.7M