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  • World Trade Center Settlement Gets Backing Needed to Take Effect
    – New York Law Journal
    (November 22, 2010) Enough plaintiffs have accepted a massive settlement of claims alleging respiratory and other health problems from the post-9/11 response and cleanup at the World Trade Center site to seal the deal. Read more…

  • 10,563 Ground Zero 9/11 Workers Agree On $625 Million Settlement
    – Medical News Today
    (November 21, 2010) 10,563 ground zero workers who inhaled toxic dust and risked health consequences have agreed on a $625 settlement and ceased suing - the amount could go as high as $815 million.
    Read more…

  • 9/11 Health Deal Gets OK
    – The Wall Street Journal
    (November 20, 2010) More than 95% of Ground Zero workers agreed to accept a settlement of long-running litigation over respiratory diseases and other injuries suffered in recovery operations following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attack.
    Read more…

  • Deal settles most lawsuits over WTC toxic dust
    – The Associated Press (AP)
    (November 19, 2010) A deal reached by New York City and workers exposed to toxic dust that blanketed ground zero after Sept. 11 will resolve an overwhelming majority of the lawsuits over the city's failure to provide protective equipment to the responders. Read more…

  • Ground Zero workers exposed to toxic dust take pay deal
    – BBC
    (November 19, 2010) Thousands of workers exposed to toxic dust after the 2001 terror attacks in New York have accepted a legal settlement and ceased litigation. Read more…

  • Lawyers: Sickened 9/11 Workers Reach Settlement Deal With City
    – NY1
    (November 19, 2010) By Friday, more than 10,000 people who became ill from working conditions at the World Trade Center site following the September 11th terrorist attacks had accepted a settlement deal with the city. Read more…

Press Release!

New Cancer Allocation Neutral Protocol

I am writing to tell you of a new Allocation Neutral Protocol (“ANP”) – a new claims procedure – that the Allocation Neutral is putting in place in the WTC litigation.  This ANP was agreed to by all parties after lengthy negotiations. Under this ANP, any plaintiff who is or was diagnosed with cancer between March 11, 2010, and the effective date of the Final Settlement Agreement (which we expect will be several weeks from now) may submit evidence of the cancer even though the medical records reflecting that diagnosis were created after the normal March 11th medical records deadline.   As long as the diagnosis occurred after March 11th but before the effective date of the Final Settlement Agreement, the ANP allows the Allocation Neutral to accept the records.

Plaintiffs diagnosed with cancer by March 11, 2010, remain eligible for a cancer payment under the settlement.  In addition, Plaintiffs diagnosed with a cancer after the effective date of the Final Settlement Agreement will be eligible to receive benefits under MetLife’s Cancer Insurance Policy, subject to its terms and conditions.  Thus, this extension of the medical records deadline for cancer eliminates the gap in cancer compensation that currently exists for cancers diagnosed after the March 11th medical records deadline but before the Cancer Insurance Policy takes effect.

This change may add slightly to the number of opt-ins because some of the handful of people (we estimate fewer than 15) who have been diagnosed with cancer since March 11, 2010, have up to now been reluctant to opt in.  With this ANP in place, we expect that most or all of them will opt in.

What effect will this have on your settlement?  None, if you are in Tiers 1, 2 or 3.  And, very little, if any, if you are in Tier 4 and don’t have cancer.  We have calculated that the effect of this ANP on such Tier 4 plaintiffs’ recoveries will be negligible. In fact, this change may even result in a net gain to you if you have a Tier 4 injury.   Why?  Because the WTC Captive must add more money to the total settlement pool if 96% or more of the eligible plaintiffs opt in.  In short, the ANP will confer a great benefit on those were or are diagnosed with cancer between March 11th and the effective date of the Final Settlement Agreement and will fairly reflect the gravity of their illness, but the ANP will either have a very small cost to other Tier 4 plaintiffs, or, if the number of opt-ins increase materially, may produce a small gain for them.

If you have any questions about the ANP, please call. 

*This communication was approved by the Court Appointed Ethicist Professor Roy Simon*

©2008 Napoli Bern LLP, All Rights Reserved, Reproduced with Permission
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