A federal judge in New York has approved a settlement of up to $712.5 million for ground zero clean up and rescue workers, calling it “fair, adequate and reasonable.”
Now, at least 95 percent of the 10,000 plaintiffs will have to approve the settlement by September 30.
In a hearing, Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein of the U.S. District Court in Manhattan heard from plaintiffs who were grateful for the settlement, and from others who thought it didn’t go far enough, The New York Times reports. Some disagreed with the way compensation would be distributed. Under the rules of the agreement, people with illnesses directly linked with conditions at ground zero, such as asthma, would get more money than someone who has an illness with a correlation that is harder to prove, like cancer.
“My problem with the settlement is equity as it relates to cancers,” Kenny Specht, a retired firefighter who has thyroid cancer, said at the hearing. “To be told now that what I participated in nine years ago didn’t contribute to my cancer is a tough situation to swallow.
The rules of the settlement divide the plaintiffs into four tiers based on the severity of injury, and at least half of the plaintiffs fall into the tier for the worst illnesses, lawyers for the city’s insurer said. That tier is expected to receive 94 percent of the fund.
