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CNN Live At Daybreak

9/11 Compensation Not As Generous As It Sounds

Aired January 08, 2002 - 06:31   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Now to the extremely difficult task of trying to put a monetary value on human life. You could call it the impossible calculus of loss, and right now the federal government is employing that calculus. It's trying to determine how much money families of those killed in the September 11th attacks should receive.

CNN's Peter Viles has that story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PETER VILES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: When the government finally crunched the numbers and made an offer to the families of those murdered on September 11th, the offer sounded generous.

KENNETH FEINBERG, SPECIAL MASTER, VICTIM'S COMPENSATION FUND: The average award before collateral offsets is about $1,650,000 tax- free.

VILES: Millions of Americans heard that or saw the number in headlines. There's only one problem. The headlines were wrong.

BEVERLY ECKERT, WORLD TRADE CENTER WIDOW: All through the holidays we kept hearing about how families, the average family was going to get $1.6 million under the funds, but the public didn't hear about how so many families would get nothing.

VILES: The 1.6-million number is the average starting point. The government then deducts life insurance, pensions, 401 (k)'s, death benefits. Under this formula, and it's not yet final, families of dead fireman, because of their pre-existing generous benefits, would receive nothing from the government fund.

REP. CAROLYN MALONEY (D), NEW YORK: This is unfair. It's wrong, and it needs to be changed.

VILES: Well let's back up for a second.

FEINBERG: $1,650,000 tax-free.

VILES: Where did that $1.6-million figure come from?

(on camera): Now this may sound harsh, but Ken Feinberg did something that juries often do in wrongful death cases. He assumed the value of your life right now as equal to your future earnings, the amount of money you will make before you die.

(voice-over): There are other variables to prevent huge awards. The government doesn't count income above $240,000 a year. As for pain and suffering, everyone is treated equally, a quarter million for every death plus another 50,000 for every dependent. So under Feinberg's formula, the more you make and the younger you are, the more the government would pay your family before all those deductions.

Take two fathers of two, a 30-year old investment banker making $175,000 a year. His family would receive $4.35 million; a 50-year old janitor making 30,000 a year, less than a sixth of that -- $696,000. Now remember, you still subtract life insurance and pensions from both numbers.

Kristine Breitweiser's husband was young, successful, and very well paid, but he was responsible too. He had life insurance and a retirement account.

KRISTINE BREITWEISER, WORLD TRADE CENTER WIDOW: I have run the numbers and at this point, for me, I'm not going to go into the fund. It doesn't make sense for me to go into the fund because I will owe the government money.

VILES: Breitweiser feels penalized for her husband's responsibility. She also believes $50,000 doesn't begin to address her daughter's emotional pain and suffering.

BREITWEISER: My two and a half year old will spend the rest of her life in history classes, going into food stores, going to Barnes & Noble, flipping through the channels on cable and coming across the exact moment of her father's death. These children will not only see it once; will not only witness it once; they will witness it over and over and over again, their entire lifetime, and I feel that $50,000 for that, it's unacceptable. It's just wrong.

VILES (on camera): All of that said, Ken Feinberg has received generally high marks for at least listening to the victims and he has indicated that he will change the formula so that every family receives at least something from the federal fund.

Peter Viles, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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