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the sense of en lement in this country has got to stop.
WTF is the country coming to when people start expecting handouts or multi-million dollar payouts when someone is killed? Should we be setting up funds for every family effected by some kind of tragedy?
Va. Tech Relatives Seeking Payment
Attorney Says State Should Create a Fund
By Tim Craig
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, July 18, 2007; B01
RICHMOND, July 17 The families of some of the victims of the Virginia Tech massacre are drawing up plans to ask the state to create a multimillion-dollar fund that would compensate them for their losses and pay for new programs to bolster campus safety across the nation.
Thomas J. Fadoul Jr., a Vienna lawyer who says he represents the relatives of 22 slain students, said the fund should be modeled after the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund, which Congress created in 2001 to distribute more than $7 billion to victims of the terrorist attacks and their relatives.
Fadoul said he is not sure how large the Virginia Tech fund would need to be. But he said the relatives of the 32 slain students and faculty members are en led to "at least what the 9/11 people got."
The families of those killed Sept. 11, 2001, collected awards averaging $2 million. Payouts for the injured averaged almost $400,000.
Like the recipients of the Sept. 11 funds, the relatives of the Virginia Tech victims probably would give up their right to sue before they could receive a direct payment.
"We think enough money can be raised, much like the 9/11 fund, where the families can be properly taken care of, to the extent they have requirements for health, mental and physical and other financial needs, and there are a lot of them," Fadoul said.
The proposal could be finalized by the relatives as early as Wednesday, but Fadoul said the families still need to reach consensus. He cautioned that their requests could change.
On Monday, the administrator of the $7 million Hokie Spirit Memorial Fund, which Virginia Tech established to receive donations in the days after the April 16 shootings, drew up recommendations for direct payments to the victims.
Kenneth R. Feinberg, who administered the Sept. 11 fund, said he will recommend that the families of those killed at Virginia Tech receive $150,000, and the injured get $25,000 to $75,000.
Feinberg said he would also recommend that anyone who was in Norris Hall, where most of the shootings occurred, receive one year of free tuition or $8,000.
But Fadoul said the families deserve far more money. The relatives also want to create a fund large enough to develop innovative ways to increase campus safety nationwide. They are not sure what form the programs would take.
Fadoul said he and his clients have been discussing their proposal and held a meeting Tuesday night in Charlottesville. He said they could unveil it as early as Wednesday while attending the fourth meeting of the Virginia Tech Review Panel, which is being held at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville.
Fadoul said the relatives would like Gov. Timothy M. Kaine (D) and the General Assembly to establish the fund, as Congress created the Sept. 11 fund.
If the state fails to act, the families may go to the federal government, some of the relatives said Tuesday night.
Kaine, through a spokesman, declined to comment.
Fadoul suggested that the money in the Hokie Spirit Memorial Fund, which the relatives have criticized for being too slow to respond to their needs, be rolled into a new account.
But Feinberg said it is unlikely that the fund, which is to disburse all its money by Nov. 1, could merge with another one.
"If the commonwealth of Virginia wanted to create its own 9/ 11 type fund, that would require a waiver of any right to sue, that is entirely within the province of the commonwealth of Virginia," Feinberg said.
Fadoul said the money for the fund could come from taxpayer contributions and from a fundraising campaign for which the relatives would make personal appeals for donations. It was unclear Tuesday night whether such a fund would be legal, state officials said.
Fadoul argued that the creation of such a fund would keep the state and Virginia Tech from having to face the possibility of lawsuits.
"Litigation is an option, but litigation is where everybody loses," Fadoul said.
A spokesman for the Virginia attorney general's office, which would represent the state and Virginia Tech in any lawsuit, declined to comment.
Congress created the Sept. 11 fund in part to protect the struggling airline industry and government agencies from the threat of lawsuits, said Lloyd Dixon, a senior economist at the Rand Corp.
Ninety-seven percent of the families of attack victims chose the payouts, but at least 80 filed lawsuits.
Dixon said such funds can be beneficial to governments and victims.
"The funds get payments to the victims more quickly than would have happened through the tort system and avoid a lot of legal and other transaction costs," said Dixon, who conducted a study of the compensation received by the victims of Sept. 11.
the sense of en lement in this country has got to stop.
The Business of America is Greed.
Sinisterly clever how they confounded their money grab with "and pay for new programs to bolster campus safety across the nation."
hahahah democracy at its greatest, wait greed
public liability, they should draw a line on that
Please....if the victims could ever find out they'd be disappointed.
Hey, I don't blame them. They gotta buy new kids, and they ain't cheap.
Cause money would make it all better....
If anything, they don't need as much any more. It's 1 less person in the family.
They should be effected emotionally, but that's it. ing people demanding money when a kid dies. If a parent dies, that's completely different.
When families who are dealing with loss and tragedy say the things they do, I am more than understanding, but this is just a greedy lawyer looking for a payday and using these people's suffering as a means to try to get it....are en led to "at least what the 9/11 people got."
Victims of crime in Texas can apply for reimbursement for their crime-related expenses from the state up to $75,000 (and something like an extra $75,000 on top of it if life-long debilitating injuries are sustained), so it's not that amount that I think is outrageous so much as the sense of en lement. I don't know if Virginia has a Crime Victims' Compensation Program and people are just unwilling to use the resources that are already there because they are greedy, or if they really just don't have the program.Kenneth R. Feinberg, who administered the Sept. 11 fund, said he will recommend that the families of those killed at Virginia Tech receive $150,000, and the injured get $25,000 to $75,000.
I definitely don't think they need as much as 9/11 victims seeing as how to my knowledge none of the people killed were family providers like those in the WTC who needed the benefit of lost wages, etc (correct me if I'm wrong about that, but surely the ratio of dependents to family providers has to be very uneven).
It depends on what could have been done to prevent it.
Not saying there could have been anything to be done by the Va Tech campus police, etc... but if it's found something was known and not acted upon, there's certainly a reason for the college, thus the state, to be held responsible financially. At the very least refunding housing, tuition, books and health costs to the families of the injured/dead.
Three years back, my cousin, who was attending college in Michigan, felt ill. He didn't have enough for medical coverage, but he tripped down to the ER anyways. After running a few tests, the hospital concluded there wasn't anything wrong. They released him. After another day, my cousin returned, stating he didn't feel well at all. He was having some difficulties breathing and he felt very, very weak. They ran some more tests, then prepped him for exploratory surgery. While waiting for the procedure to be done, my cousin, 22, died.
My uncle, a retired private practice attorney who had offices in Phoenix, San Francisco and Seattle, filed suit. He later dropped it, determining that no amount of money would save himself from the grief, and that the things purchased with the "blood money" would only stand as a constant reminder of the ER's failings.
I said all that to say this, sometimes people make mistakes. When they do and it costs someone their life, they should be held responsible.
However, sometimes tragedies occur and there's no real blame to be laid anywhere beyond the person who inflicted the pain.
The adults in this case need to stop looking for a monetary way to remember their child's existance and just charish the times that were had.
As far as I know, there's been nothing to indicate the shooter told the school, or that the school found out. Would it have been great for the campus patrol to get to him before 32 were killed? Sure. But I'm not sure it was even possible.
The only people that need to get money, beyond the housing, tuition, books and health costs, are wives/children of somone injured/killed.
Didn't Cho Seung-Hui go on his shooting rampage for this very reason??
I guess at least one difference is that victims of 9/11 were mostly adults, a lot of bread winners died that day, while the deaths in VT were kids....
JMJ, that's a sad story, and that would suck for people to up lives in that way.
But in the VT case, the families paid for them to attend a university, but that's just the way things happened. Bad luck. Let's say Tim Duncan suddenly is killed by a Mavs fan, does the Spurs organization have the right to demand money for spending millions on Duncan? No, they paid for the benefits of having Tim on the team and have seen results. The students also were receiving results at VT, getting an education and probably having the best times of their lives at a large university. That sucks that they had to go out that way, I feel really bad for them. It's just another way to look at it.
People can't always beg for money everytime someone dies. People are asking for money over anything, and I'm not saying the VT shootings were nothing, it was a big deal. But pretty soon everyone will be trying to weedle money from organizations.
What a stupid statement. They are the future of this nation
I agree in the Va Tech case, though I do think the state or university should refund the housing, tuition, books and health costs to the families of those lost. Wehther immediate, like a wife/husband and kids, or immediate extended like parents/guardians.
It's certainly not the kids fault, nor the family's, that they were injured/killed, so they should certainly be treated better than those who weren't involved.
What ever happend to quiet/private mourning?
The business of America is lawyers, which easily translates into greed.
I guarantee you every one of those families were persuaded by legal representatives one way or another to get something out of it for themselves(just let them take a piece of course) Yeah many got talked into going for it but it's hard to argue with a slick bas who can replace your loved ones with a load of cash.
It's not stupid. The 9/11 fund was set up to help widows raise kids and send them to college. This lawyer in Virginia is just being greedy and taking advantage of these families' grief.
I agree that the sense of en lement is very sad. My heart aches for anyone who loses a child--I can only imagine--but this lawsuit is bull .
.....and people wonder why other countries hate us.
It'll be interesting to see how this plays out..
I think they will probably make claims against the university because they did nothing after the first shooting- close the campus, lock down... and then he came back a second time for his major killing spree. In that arena, they may have a valid case against the university.
I agree but not because kids are less valuable. A lawsuit due to negligence will help recover money that is needed to help support a family that depended on it. Why would I want $$$$ if it was one of my kids? I certaintly can't see myself enjoying any part of it.
u know who is goin to foot the bill?
taxpayers
families who send there children to vt, risin prices
fuk that lawyer takin advatage of those vunerable
Screw them, they should be paying us as justice for demanding a payout. They have one less mouth to feed and more disposable income. Plus they don't have to pay for college anymore.
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