Kenneth R. Feinberg, the Washington lawyer who directed the federal program to compensate relatives of victims of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, will oversee the distribution of the $7 million that has been donated to Virginia Tech since the campus killings in April, university officials said yesterday.
“There is no script for a tragedy of this magnitude and depth of pain,” the university president, Charles W. Steger, said in a statement. “I am very pleased to have someone of Ken Feinberg’s caliber, experience and long career to help guide us.”
In November 2001, Mr. Feinberg was appointed special master of the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund by John Ashcroft, who was then attorney general. A former chief of staff for Senator Edward M. Kennedy, Democrat of Massachusetts, Mr. Feinberg has experience in mediating complicated compensation disputes, including those that arose over the Agent Orange defoliant used in the Vietnam War and the Dalkon Shield birth control device.
Though Mr. Feinberg’s job will involve the difficult responsibility of assigning monetary values to human lives, he said his new task would be much smaller and less complicated than his work on the Sept. 11 case.
“In some ways, this is familiar territory,” said Mr. Feinberg, who is not being paid for his work. “I will still be dealing with grieving families. I will still be meeting with physically and mentally wounded victims who were shot or who jumped from windows. In that sense, I must say, this assignment is very similar to what I did before.”
For the Sept. 11 victims’ families, he directed an overall payout of more than $7 billion in public money, including 2,675 valid injury claims at an average of about $400,000 a payout and an average payout of about $1.8 million for death claims. All recipients waived their right to sue the airlines and corporations.
In this case, he will handle $7 million in private money on behalf of victims who will not be required to relinquish their right to sue to qualify for money.
Mr. Feinberg said he would begin talking to families immediately. He said he planned to give out a set of proposals about the distributions to the families this month and will establish eligibility criteria by the end of the month. Mr. Feinberg he plans to finish distributing money before Thanksgiving Day, he said.
Three general categories of people will most likely be eligible, he said, families of the 32 victims, about 30 people who were physically injured and an untold number who sustained psychological harm.
Victims may also be eligible for money through a state compensation account for victims of violent crime, university officials said. Mr. Feinberg said such state accounts typically paid $2,500 to $5,000.
Larry Hincker, a university spokesman, said no lawsuits had been filed against the university related to the killings.
After the April 16 shootings, the university has received more than $7 million in unsolicited donations from around the world. Virginia Tech has used the money to establish the Hokie Spirit Memorial Fund, which was placed under the control of the Virginia Tech Foundation.
Approximately $1 million of the total donations has been designated by donors toward specific uses, leaving the balance for general use, including distributions.
The Hokie Spirit Memorial Fund will be closed for donations on Aug. 1, university officials said.
Any money given after that will be directed to the Hokie Spirit Scholarship Fund, a general scholarship account for Virginia Tech students that could be used for others involved in the tragedy.
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