$47 million more possible for Trade Center responders

World Trade Center responders will be eligible to collect another $47.5 million for injuries and illnesses suffered during the Ground Zero cleanup under a settlement announced Thursday with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.

The funds would be in addition to a proposed $712-million settlement with New York City, its contractors and its insurer that was agreed to earlier this year. That deal must be approved by at least 95 percent of the 10,000 cops, firefighters and other claimants by Nov. 8 to take effect.

The settlement with the Port Authority was disclosed in an order filed by U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein, who approved it as "fair and reasonable." It is still subject to approval by the board of the Port Authority, according to a letter filed by the bi-state agency's law firm, and will be considered at a meeting later this month.

Hellerstein's order indicated that the lead plaintiffs' firm of Worby Groner Edelman & Napoli Bern has agreed to limit their fees to 25 percent, the same cut as Hellerstein ordered in the settlement with the city.

The money will not become part of the city fund, but will be subject to a similar approval process, under which designated percentages of the claimants will have to accept it for it to become final, Hellerstein said.

Also, the money will be allocated under a similar design to the proposed city fund. Claimants with less severe injuries will receive fixed payments of $2,000, $2,500 or $3,000, while those with more significant injuries will receive larger amounts based on the severity of the injury and other factors, including the likelihood that it was caused at Ground Zero.

Hellerstein said the same administrators will be used to dole out the Port Authority money as are handling the city fund, including Washington lawyer Kenneth Feinberg, who was special master of the federal government's September 11th Victim Compensation Fund.

Plaintiffs' lawyer Paul Napoli, in a statement, said he was "elated by the finalization of this agreement . . . which followed extensive negotiations over many weeks."