CBS 2 - March 12, 2010

Judge to Hear Plan To Pay $657M to First Responders And Rescue Workers at Ground Zero After Sept. 11 Attacks

9/11 first responders, many of them standing in shock at the destruction before them, were charged with the task of searching for survivors and bodies.

Many of the rescuers, including firefighter John McNamara, insisted all along that they were victims of the toxic dust they inhaled.

Finally, after years of fighting in court, a settlement that could pay up to $657.5 million to more than 10,000 ground zero rescue and recovery workers sickened by the dust from the destroyed World Trade Center goes before a judge Friday.

The settlement agreed upon by lawyers representing the city, construction companies and the workers was announced by WTC Captive Insurance Co., a special entity established to indemnify the city and its contractors against potential legal action as they moved to clean up the site after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

Both sides were scheduled to appear before the federal judge handling the litigation, U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein, who must approve the deal along with the workers themselves.

There are conditions however. Lawyers, who will collect a third of the total reward, need to convince 100 percent of the responders to sign off in order for the maximum settlement to be rewarded. If only 95 percent approve, the deal drops to $575 million.

In an effort to weed out fraudulent claims, responders will need to prove they were on the site and turn over medical records to evaluate their exposure. The financial rewards, which are said to range from about 3,200 to a million dollars or more, will be issued based on a points system that ranks each illness or injury.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg called the proposal "fair and reasonable."

First responders on Thursday night said it's about time, that nine years after the tragedy was enough waiting.

"The facts that were presented to us, and I don't think we have all of them just yet, proves that men and women are sick and dying from their heroic actions," first responder John Feal said.

Andrew Carboy was on the phone with some of the 680 first responders he represents who are part of the 10,000 firefighters, police officers and construction workers who all claim their conditions -- mostly respiratory illnesses -- resulted from the toxic brew of contaminants at ground zero and the defendants' failure to protect them with safety equipment, like respirators.

"The city had a plan in place to provide them with the appropriate respiratory protection, air purifying respirators and didn't have that program up and running," Carboy said.