Lawsuits Filed

After the 9/11 attack, concerns regarding the health effects in the Lower Manhattan Financial District started to grow. Electronic equipment, furniture and pulverized building debris were scattered all over the area after the collapse of the World Trade Center Building 7 and Twin Towers. In addition to this, the air was still filled with dust in the site of the World Trade Center even five months after the attack. As a result, a growing number of residents in New York reported symptoms of respiratory illnesses.

Aside from the residents of Lower Manhattan, thousands of workers and volunteers in Ground Zero filed lawsuits regarding exposure to toxic dust after the 9/11 attacks. Since 2003, more than 10,000 emergency responders, police officers, firefighters and construction workers have filed lawsuits reporting that they got ill from their clean-up, recovery and rescue efforts in the days, weeks and months that followed the attacks. Their lawsuits were filed against 90 defendants, including New Jersey, New York, New York Port Authority and a number of construction companies who were allegedly reported to have failed to protect and supervise them adequately with safety gears and equipment.

Credibility concerns were raised on a number of lawsuits filed related to the 9/11 attack due to the fact that several cases were exaggerated or inconsistent. According to reports, almost half of the individuals covered in the settlement fall into two categories, they are either not ill or only suffering from minor health concerns but consumed with worry over future illness. Complainants who filed lawsuits due to worry over future illness as a result of their involvement to Ground Zero activities but don’t present an injury still qualify for a settlement accord. However, their payouts are relatively smaller compared to other major cases reported related to the incident.

An average of 94% of the settlement are intended for individuals who acquired serious illnesses, like emphysema or cancer, because of their participation in the Ground Zero rescue and clean-up operations. Individual settlement on lawsuits filed are usually based on the severity of the illness and the amount of time the complainant spent on the Ground Zero site along with other issues, like health history, age and if the reported illness could be related to the World Trade Center dust.