657.5 Million Dollar Settlement Reached In Suit Over Ground Zero Injuries
In the cases of thousands if first responder, rescue and cleanup workers at ground zero in New York City who sued the city over damage to their health, a settlement of up to $657.5 million has been reached
There were approximately 10,000 plaintiffs involved in the suit who are eligible to receive compensation. The funds will be distributed according to a formula which will take into account the severity of each individual’s illnesses and their exposure to contaminants at the World Trade Center site.
Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York will be the judge in charge of overseeing the payments to the plaintiffs. It has been estimated by lawyers on both sides that individual settlement amounts could range from only a few thousand dollars to over $1 million for the most serious injuries.
The settlement, which took two (2) years to negotiate, raises the prospect of an end to years of complex and politically charged litigation that has pitted angry victims against city officials, who questioned the validity of some claims and argued that the city should be immune from liability.
Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg called the settlement “a fair and reasonable resolution to a complex set of circumstances.”
