9/11 Settlement Bonus Payments Cause Dispute
Around a month shy of a year ago your Charleston personal injury lawyers posted an entry concerning the settlement made between New York City and those who sustained work related injuries in the ground zero rescue and cleanup efforts. Now some of those more than 10,000 fire fighters, firefighters, police officers, volunteers, and others who sued for injuries and illnesses, primarily respiratory, which were said to be linked to the City's failure to provide proper protective gear, are looking to share in a $55 million bonus settlement. The bonus comes under the terms of agreement in the original settlement, because more than 99% of plaintiffs accepted the settlement they are entitled to a share of the extra moneys.
However, the judge that signed the order granting the bonus payments last Thursday has ruled that the injured workers will not have to pay lawyers' fees on the increased settlement. Needless to say, plaintiffs' lawyers are unhappy that they are not entitled to a percentage of said bonus payments. Prior to these forthcoming payments, lawyers' fees were set at 25% of the settlement amount.
All in all, the more than 10,000 plaintiffs in the case stood to receive an amount in the neighborhood of $725 million when agreements with other defendants were factored in, translating to about $187.5 million dollars in lawyers' fees after expenses. The New York Times pointed out an interesting comparison, counsel for the City and other contractors have already made more than $200 million.
The reasoning behind the judge's ruling, he writes, "Such fees, taken after plaintiffs' counsel have had all their expenses paid out of the settlements fund, are more than sufficient to compensate counsel for their representation." It must be mentioned that this same judge has presided over the workers' litigation for seven years before a settlement was reached last year, and some feel barring plaintiffs' counsel from receiving further compensation is keeping with the disposition of his past rulings.
As mentioned earlier in this post, it is only "some" of those plaintiffs that will be sharing the $55 bonus settlement. The presiding judge made note that most, if not all, of the bonus payments would to go to around 5,000 workers found to have incurred the most serious injuries from their work after the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
But, both sides of the settlement have contentions with the bonus payments and are deciding whether to pursue an appeal of the judge's most recent ruling. Plaintiffs' counsel are disgruntled because they contend that barring them from further payment is unwarranted because they had to litigate the terms of the deal, while defendants' counsel dispute that the bonus payments could reach $55 million when they had previously agreed to a payment of $12.5 million in bonuses.
Just to offer a bit of perspective on the issue, let's keep in mind that the bonus discussed in this post is in no way similar to a "signing bonus" for athletes, nor does it in any way mirror the questionable "bonuses" received by the executives of failing financial institutions. We are talking about legitimate workers' compensation claims for those men and women who unselfishly entered the smoke, dust, and ash of what scientists have deemed the most acute environmental disaster in New York City in an effort to save the life of another human being. So while arguments are raised for and against further compensation to Public Servants, Real Life Superheroes, and their lawyers, please take a moment to remember and offer a quiet thanks to those paid the ultimate price for the good of others.
More Blog Posts: South Carolina Job Injury Lawyers Turn Attention to Additional Workers Compensation Settlement, South Carolina on the Job Accident Lawyers Take a Step Back in Time to the Worst Construction Accident in U.S. History, A Look Back at the Deepwater Horizon Explosion
