What Is Life Worth? : The Unprecedented Effort to Compensate the Victims of 9/11

Feinberg, Kenneth R.

ISBN 10: 1586483234 / ISBN 13: 9781586483234

Published by PublicAffairs, 2005

About this Item

Former library book; may include library markings. Used book that is in excellent condition. May show signs of wear or have minor defects.

Seller Inventory # GRP89604180

Bibliographic Details

• Title: What Is Life Worth? : The Unprecedented Effort to Compensate the Victims of 9/11
• Publisher: PublicAffairs
• Publication Date: 2005
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1586483234
• ISBN 13: 9781586483234
• Binding: Hardcover
• Condition: Very Good
• Weight: 0.902 pounds

About this title

Synopsis

As head of the 9/11 victim compensation fund, Kenneth Feinberg was asked to do the impossible: calculate the dollar value of over 5,000 people killed and injured in the 9/11 terrorist attacks Just days after September 11th 2001, Kenneth Feinberg was appointed to administer the federal 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund, a unique, unprecedented fund established by the US Congress to compensate families who lost a loved one on 9/11 and survivors who were physically injured in the attacks. Those who participated in the fund were required to waive their right to sue the airlines involved in the attacks, as well as other potentially responsible entities. When the programme was launched, many families criticized it as a brazen, tight-fisted attempt to protect the airlines from lawsuits. The Fund was also attacked as attempting to put insulting dollar values on the lives of lost loved ones. The families were in pain. And they were angry. Over the course of the next three years, Feinberg spent almost all of his time meeting the families, convincing them of the generosity and compassion of the programme and calculating appropriate awards for each and every claim. The Fund proved to be a dramatic success with over 97 per cent of eligible families participating. It also provided important lessons for Feinberg who became the filter, the arbitrator and the target of family suffering. Feinberg learned about the enduring power of family grief, love, fear, faith, frustration and courage. Most importantly, he learned that no cheque, no matter how large could make the families and victims of 9/11 whole again.

About the Author

Kenneth R Feinberg, one of America's leading lawyers, has at the forefront of some of the most complex public legal disputes of the past three decades: Agent Orange, asbestos, the closing of the Shoreham Nuclear Plant, and now, 9/11. A former prosecutor and member of two Presidential Commissions, he is also adjunct Professor of Law at Georgetown University, the University of Pennsylvania, Columbia University and New York University.