Deadline nears to register claims with 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund

Retired NYPD Officer John DeVito of Bellport spent weeks on the smoldering rubble of Ground Zero.

He would pay a stiff price for his rescue and recovery work. DeVito was diagnosed with esophageal cancer in March 2020, an ailment doctors have linked to his exposure to the toxins floating in the air of lower Manhattan after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

DeVito, 49, in remission and healthy, has now taken on a new mission: encouraging fellow officers who are suffering from a host of 9/11-related ailments to register claims with the Victim Compensation Fund before the upcoming July 29 deadline.

"We're all tough guys," said DeVito, a married father of three children who has persuaded a half-dozen fellow officers to register with the fund. "It's 20 years ago. And everyone thinks it's over now. But, in my opinion, it's really just starting up."

The fast-approaching deadline targets individuals who were certified by the World Trade Center Health Program for a Ground Zero-related illness before July 29, 2019, but who never registered with the fund, and those seeking to collect compensation on behalf of a loved one who died of a 9/11 ailment before that 2019 date.

Registrants need only to go online and provide their name, date of birth and Social Security number to begin the process.

The two-year "look back window" was granted by VCF Special Master Rupa Bhattacharyya after Congress passed the VCF Permanent Authorization Act in 2019. The deadline comes just weeks before the 20th anniversary of the attacks.

Michael Barasch, managing partner at the law firm Barasch & McGarry, represents 15,000 members of the 9/11 community including more than 5,000 on Long Island. He said an average of 250 people contact his office each day seeking information about the fund — many of them civilians.

That's because less than 8% of the 400,000 civilians working or living in lower Manhattan in the aftermath of the attacks — office workers, secretaries, teachers, students and residents — are registered with the WTC Health Program, compared with 80% of first responders, including members of the NYPD and FDNY, Barasch said.

"Not a day goes by without one of my clients dying from one of these really aggressive cancers," Barasch said. "My message is: Register now, even if you're a non-responder. You're entitled to the same benefits as the New York City firefighters and cops."

To be eligible for compensation from the fund, an individual must prove they were in the exposure zone, or along the debris removal route, from the time of the attacks through May 30, 2002, and have a 9/11-related illness or injury certified by the WTC Health Program.

The program has linked 68 kinds of cancer and a host of respiratory and gastrointestinal illnesses to the toxins in the air after the collapse of the Twin Towers.

The VCF Permanent Authorization Act authorizes $10 billion for the fund for the first decade, then adds additional billions more until 2090 to pay all remaining eligible claims.

Through the end of June, the fund has received nearly 65,000 claims and awarded $8.67 billion in compensation payments.

The deadline does not apply to individuals who might become sick in the future or who are not yet enrolled in the WTC Health Program.

The act allows anyone affected by the aftermath of the Trade Center attacks to file a claim with the fund through Oct. 1, 2090.

It was enacted after retired cancer-stricken NYPD Bomb Squad Det. Luis Alvarez of Oceanside, standing beside comedian Jon Stewart and other 9/11 advocates, implored Congress to fund the program before it ran out of money. Alvarez, who spent three months at Ground Zero, died just weeks after his testimony.

Alvarez's brother, Phil Alvarez, who works as director of outreach and education for Hansen & Rosasco, a law firm specializing in 9/11 health claims, said many individuals got sick with a 9/11-related illness but never followed through and filed claims with the fund.

"Some of these guys are now sick and on medication. And for us to go back and file claims and get them compensation so they don't have to choose between paying the mortgage and paying for medication is a wonderful thing," said Phil Alvarez, a retired Suffolk County police detective. "It makes me very proud of the things my brother was able to do at the end of his life."

By Robert Brodsky

robert.brodsky@newsday.com@BrodskyRobert

Robert Brodsky is a breaking news reporter who has worked at Newsday since 2011. He is a Queens College and American University alum.