By Shayna Jacobs
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
LOWER MANHATTAN — Thousands of lawsuits filed by 9/11 rescue workers against the city are moving closer to settlements, a federal judge told the New York Times at a recent hearing.
About 11,000 Sept. 11 rescue workers have pending lawsuits against the city and other responding agencies, but the caseload is colossal and litigation has been ongoing for six years.
A judge told the Times the parties are looking toward possible group settlements, while others may still be settled individually.
The lawsuits were filed in 2004 by thousands of rescue and cleanup workers who sued over illnesses they say stemmed from working at Ground Zero after the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001.
However, the city firmly believes it should not be held financially liable for an extraordinarily costly catastrophe it was not responsible for, despite a federal appeals court ruling last year that sided with the rescue workers.
“The city supports compensation for those who may have been injured as a result of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, but believes that the tort system is ill-suited to provide it," Jason Post, a spokesperson for Mayor Michael Bloomberg, told DNAinfo. "We would rather stand with the responders before Congress than fight them in the courtroom."
The city has even taken its pleadings to Congress, where Michael Cardozo, the head of the city's law department, asked for a revamped Victim Compensation Fund to address the needs of the thousands of rescue workers who have made legal claims against the city.
Under the terms of the Victim Compensation Fund — a federal relief program — rescue workers who developed symptoms after the filing period or who were not working at Ground Zero within four days of the attack were excluded.
"Because of these limitations, there are now many rescue and recovery workers, not to mention those in the community, who report injuries but have no option for compensation other than litigation," Cardozo testified in March 2009.
"Resolving these issues through the courts is not in anyone's interest," he added, stressing that too much compensation money is ending up in the pockets of attorneys because of the court battle.
Manhattan Federal Court Judge Alvin Hellerstein, who has been handling a bulk of the cases, told the Times it is possible to group the lawsuits together for the sake of simplifying the matter and reaching a large settlement.
He did not seem to favor the option and it seems that despite the city's aggressive pleas to Congress, they will be paying for a significant portion of the workers' compensation.
“The settlement is complicated,” Hellerstein acknowledged.
