These lawsuits were filed on behalf of 8,000 plaintiffs, including police officers, firefighters, emergency medical workers and individuals who cleaned up lower Manhattan for 10 months after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.
I was shocked to find out that “57 people who worked on the pile of debris were dead from cancer and other illnesses that were caused or worsened by the conditions at the disaster site.”
A lawyer for the plaintiffs said, “The tragedy is this is only the beginning for the people who are sick and dying…even if laws temporarily protect the city and those it hires to respond to disasters, the immunity from liability cannot extend for weeks or months afterwards. At a certain point, the emergency ends and the regular rules have to apply.”
One of the responses by the government was to “set aside money to compensate injured workers and to provide disability benefits and pensions.” However, “the lawsuits raised the question whether even more should be paid out.”
This unique situation is setting a precedent and hopefully will not have to be applied to any other future national disaster of this magnitude.
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