Life is not fair.In your editorial "Fours Years After" (September 9) you seem to affirm Kenneth R. Feinberg's effort to "narrow the gap" between high and low settlements of the 9/11 victims. However, that is not what Congress intended when it created the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund The September 11th Victim Compensation Fund was created by an act of congress shortly after 9/11 to compensate the victims of the attack (or their families) in exchange for their agreement not to sue the airline corporations involved. , nor what Feinberg was hired to administer. Life is not fair, and in the American legal system, the measure of damages MEASURE OF DAMAGES, prac. Those principles or rules of law which control a jury in adjusting or proportioning the damages, in certain cases. 1 Bouv. Inst. n. 636. in court awards is based, among other criteria, on economic loss. Accordingly, whether it be an auto accident, a fire, or a train wreck train wreck Medtalk A popular term for a multiproblem Pt in critical condition , the victim with the higher income will always be awarded a greater sum than the victim with a lower income. I happen to agree with the conclusions of your editorial and I admire Feinberg's compassion, but even more so, I believe that the rule of law requires one to carry out a valid, if flawed, mandate according to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. its plain intendment in·tend·ment n. The true meaning or intention of something, especially of a law. . ERNEST C. RASKAUSKAS Potomac, Md. The writer is a retired plaintiffs' attorney. |
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