BILL TO LET POST-9/11 WORKERS SUE CITY
February 18, 2007 -- Mayor Bloomberg wants to bar sick Ground Zero workers from suing the city - but Reps. Jerry Nadler and Carolyn Maloney say they will push bills to allow people the choice to either sue or take money from a new victims' compensation fund.
Bloomberg has cooked up a plan to withhold any of the $1 billion in insurance it received from the feds unless the city and its contractors in the Ground Zero cleanup get blanket immunity from lawsuits, officials told The Post.
"We don't believe the city is liable for the acts of 19 terrorists," said Deputy Mayor Ed Skyler.
Without immunity, he said, the city could be socked with suits seeking far more than $1 billion for years to come.
But the city's demand has angered lawyers who want to start settling suits by more than 7,000 workers seeking compensation for respiratory illness, cancer and other diseases from toxic exposure.
"Bloomberg is holding these ill workers hostage - like human shields," said attorney Paul Napoli.
Nadler (D-Manhattan) and Maloney (D-Brooklyn) said they will sponsor legislation to reopen the 9/11 Victims Compensation Fund - as Bloomberg urged last week.
But they said it should mirror the original fund, which gave victims the choice to either accept money or go to court. In that case, the plan protected airlines from huge losses.
"The first victims' fund was voluntary and it worked well," Maloney said.
Original article posted here.
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