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Lawyer Who Directed Sept. 11 Compensation to Oversee Virginia Tech Program

By IAN URBINA
Published: July 5, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/05/us/06cnd-tech.html

Kenneth R. Feinberg, the Washington lawyer who directed the federal program to compensate relatives of victims of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, will oversee the distribution of the $7 million that has been donated to Virginia Tech after the April campus massacre, university officials said Thursday.

“There is no script for a tragedy of this magnitude and depth of pain,” the university’s president, Charles Steger, said. “I am very pleased to have someone of Ken Feinberg’s caliber, experience and long career to help guide us.”

In November 2001, Mr. Feinberg was appointed special master of the Sept. 11 Victim Compensation Fund by then-Attorney General John Ashcroft. A former chief of staff for Senator Edward M. Kennedy, Mr. Feinberg has extensive experience in mediating complicated compensation disputes, including those that arose over the Agent Orange defoliant used in the Vietnam War and the Dalkon Shield birth control device.

While Mr. Feinberg’s job will involve the difficult responsibility of assigning monetary values to human lives, he said his current task would be much smaller and less complicated than his work on the Sept. 11 case.

“In some ways, this is familiar territory,” said Mr. Feinberg, who is not being paid for the job. “I will still be dealing with grieving families. I will still be meeting with physically and mentally wounded victims who were shot or who jumped from windows. In that sense, I must say, this assignment is very similar to what I did before.”

For the Sept. 11 victims’ families, he directed an overall payout of more than $7 billion in public money, including 2,675 valid injury claims at an average of about $400,000 per payout, and an average payout of about $1.8 million for death claims. All recipients waived their right to sue the airlines and corporations.

In this case, he will handle $7 million in private money on behalf of victims who will not be required to relinquish their right to sue to qualify for money.

Mr. Feinberg said he will begin talking to families immediately.

Mr. Feinberg said he plans to disseminate a set of proposals about distributions to the families in mid-July. He will establish criteria for eligibility by the end of the month and he plans to finish distributing money before Thanksgiving, he said.

There are already three general categories of people who art likely to be eligible, including the families of the 32 who were killed, about 30 people who were injured during the incident and an untold number of people who sustained psychological harm because of the massacre, he said.

Victims may also be eligible for money through a state compensation fund for victims of violent crime, university officials said. Mr. Feinberg said that such state funds typically pay between $2,500 and $5,000.

Larry Hincker, a university spokesman, said that no lawsuits have been filed against the university related to the massacre.

In the wake of the April 16 shootings at Tech, the school has received more than $7 million in unsolicited donations from around the world. The school has used the money to establish the Hokie Spirit Memorial Fund, which was placed under the control of the nonprofit Virginia Tech Foundation.

Approximately $1 million of the total donations have been designated by donors toward specific uses, leaving the balance for general use, including distributions.

The Hokie Spirit Memorial Fund will be closed for donations Aug. 1, university officials said.

Any money given after the closing date will be directed to the Hokie Spirit Scholarship Fund, a general scholarship fund for Virginia Tech students and could be used for others involved in the tragedy.

 

 

 
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