NEW YORK, NY September 24, 2003 — The deadline to apply to the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund is three months away. The fund has been slow to catch on. Many families, and their lawyers, have criticized the fund, and its administrator, Kenneth Feinberg. Now, as time runs out to apply, the fund, and Feinberg, are gaining allies. WNYC's Amy Eddings reports.

From the get-go, administrator Kenneth Feinberg has urged people to take advantage of the Victim Compensation Fund. Lately, his message has taken on new urgency. He spoke to thirty people at a meeting on Staten Island last week.

Feinberg: December 22nd is the deadline. Do not miss that deadline. Because if you do I have no power under the law to extend your right to file.

Shortly after September 11th, Congress enacted a law to financially support and protect the airline industry. It also created the Victim Compensation Fund. People who accept an award from the fund give up their right to sue for damages. Patrick Mullan has to make this decision for the estate of his brother, Michael.

Patrick Mullan: It seems very unfair, and I think, personally, it's why a lot of people haven't accepted the award and filed. Is because, basically, you're asking us to withdraw our suits and not take any other action and hope that we get a decent award.

As of last Monday, federal officials said only 44 percent of those eligible to file had submitted applications.

For many people, Kenneth Feinberg became the lightening rod for their dissatisfactions with the fund. Charles Wolf lost his wife, Katherine.

Wolf: I couldn't stand the man. I felt like either he was a used car salesman, trying to sell me a car. Or that I was on a jury and he was summing up the case: File and file now.

Nick Chiachiaro had a similar impression from an early meeting with Feinberg. He lost his wife and his niece.

Chiachiaro: He was truly very, very, very arrogant. When I said to him - and I was the last speaker on that first night - I said, I have a couple of things to say to you, and he said, Pick one, it's getting late. And I was so against him, you have no idea.

Chiachiaro says that when he was finally able to think with his head, and not his broken heart, he decided to enter the fund. He now calls Feinberg considerate and generous.

Chiachiaro, to audience: He's absolutely turning into a human being. I think through all that he has seen - I think his wife has to thank us! I think he's probably a nicer guy at home than he was originally!

Cheri Sparacio, who lost her husband, Tom, thinks Feinberg is not the only person who's changed.

Sparacio: We were all hurting, we were all angry about different things. Unfortunately, you were the person it got taken out on, because you were coming in and saying, I've got a deal for you.

And Charles Wolf, who was so outraged at the program that he started an organization, Fix the Fund, tells the audience the fund's been fixed. He says he feels a responsibility to attend these meetings and say this.

Wolf: I feel - maybe you could call it contributory responsibility. Me, and a number of other people,were yelling and yelling and yelling. And I think we may have contributed to souring people's attitudes about the fund.

Wolf's attorney, Justin Green, sees the transformation of Kenneth Feinberg differently. Green's firm, Kreindler and Kreindler, represents 500 September 11th families. He says many of his clients are happy with their awards.

Green: I think time is on Ken Feinberg's side. It's one thing, when you know you have two years, to be very critical and hold your case out of the fund, but when you have two months, you know, it's time to really make a decision.

In the past week alone, the number of claims had jumped to 2,503 an 89 percent increase in one week.

Keneth Feinberg was asked if he, indeed, has changed.

Feinberg: I think everybody's changed. I think time is a great healer. I think I've learned a lot from these families. I underestimated the extent of their grief at the outset. I think everybody, as the clock ticks and you move on, people are tempered by what happened, and what has happened since.

Feinberg says he hopes everyone eligible for victim compensation makes some decision, any decision, even if it's to join the 69 people who so far have decided to forego the fund, and sue the airlines. He says his greatest fear is that there are some people so grief-stricken that they will do nothing at all. For WNYC, I'm Amy Eddings.


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