World Trade Center payout gets court review

The judge overseeing the World Trade Center court settlement said Wednesday that he is reviewing objections from New York City that could reduce the total payout to thousands of Ground Zero workers by as much as $37.5 million.

The city's complaint: U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein mistakenly triggered bonus payments based on the percentage of claimants participating in the settlement by eliminating 409 plaintiffs who had stopped pursuing their cases from the total.

Now, the city contends, victims will have to pay 25 percent in legal fees for the bonus money - but would likely get the same amount with no legal fees from the Victims Compensation Fund passed by Congress, effectively adding about $9 million to their pockets.

The motion has been opposed by the plaintiffs' lawyers, who stand to lose fees. They argue that eliminating so-called "involuntary dismissals" from the total of eligible plaintiffs - which raised participation from 95 percent to 98 percent - was not inconsistent with the settlement agreement.

Hellerstein gave no hint of how he was going to rule at a status hearing on the settlement in federal court in Manhattan Wednesday.

"I really think I understand the issues, and I'm reviewing it," the judge said.

The bonus payments, approved by Hellerstein in late December, increased the total base amount of the settlement from $625 million to more than $660 million.

SEE PHOTOS9/11/2001 in photos

The money is being distributed to workers who sued the city based on alleged injuries from working on trade center cleanup and opted in to the settlement based on the severity of their injuries and other factors.

Workers who settled suits against the city also can apply to the new federal fund, but their settlement amounts are offset against what they get from the Victims Compensation Fund.

Lawyers for the World Trade Center Captive Insurance Co., the city's federally funded insurer, said the first checks went out last week for initial payments under the settlement.

They have paid more than $10 million for 4,837 workers so far.