Madeline Meacham, Esquire, Deputy County Attorney in Boulder County, Colorado, is a Member of the ABA-TIPS Disaster Preparedness and Response Initiative. She has requested that I post the following on this site. For the first time in recorded history, I give you this Guest Blog on Insurance Claims and Issues, and I am happy to do it.
TEN YEARS AFTER 9/11
Many of us remember exactly where we were on September 11, 2001. The tenth anniversary of 9/11 is an occasion for reflection on how our world has changed. Planning for disaster relief and recovery, security, victim compensation, insurance practice, employment practices, are all dramatically different ten years later. Since 9/11, the United States and most of the industrialized world have expended enormous resources to attempt to protect their citizens from terrorist attacks. To what extent have these efforts succeeded? At what cost? Can they be improved? Can they be sustained? How much are citizens willing to pay for this protection in terms of dollars out of their pockets and sacrifice of their civil liberties? What are the elements of a good Disaster Plan for families, business and communities? What injuries are compensable after a disaster?
What does the landscape look like, ten years later? Join us in discussing these issues in a series of Commemorative September 11th teleconferences, at http://www.americanbar.org/groups/tort_trial_insurance_practice/cle_programs.html
The USAPATRIOT Act and the Department of Homeland Security, the much strengthened Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, preventive detention, military commissions, use of military force to effect regime change, use of drones and special operatives to effect assassinations are well accepted. https://www.stmarytx.edu/ctl/pdf/PaceLR.pdf
The Cost of Wars since 2001 is in thirteen figures. http://costofwar.com/en/
Plaintiff Mary Bavis, on behalf of her son Mark who was in the United plane that struck the second tower, may be allowed to proceed to trial. This would be the first case from September 11, 2001 to be tried. The lawsuit seeks to recover terror damages in addition to damages for his wrongful death. Judge Hellerstein, presiding, said his thinking is tending toward allowing terror damages. The Bavis lawsuit has been widely watched over the nearly 10 years since it was filed. Scheduled for trial in November 2011, it would be the only wrongful death lawsuit to proceed to trial stemming from September 11, 2001. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/28/nyregion/family-in-911-suit-may-be-able-to-seek-damages-for-suffering.html
In January 2011, this year, Congress enacted the Zadroga Act, a new act to provide compensation for the rescue workers, the cleanup workers, the construction workers, the volunteers, the workers on the barges carrying the debris, and workers at the Staten Island landfill where the twin tower rubble was entombed. This act also provides coverage for a larger geographic area than did the initial September 11th 2001 Victim's Compensation Act. The Act, named after a police detective who took part in the rescue efforts and later developed breathing complications, provides $4.3 billion to compensate and treat persons with 9/11 related illnesses. Regulations governing the Act are in the process of being finalized. http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/07/01/911-health-care-law-takes-effect/
Emphasis on disaster preparedness, including insurance has increased dramatically. Reinsurers are exquisitely tuned in to the shifting political forces that have potential to trigger, and the market responds accordingly.
http://www.fema.gov/plan/index.shtm
http://www.guycarp.com/portal/extranet/insights/reportsPDF/2011/Terrorism%20Report%202011.pdf?vid=
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