Time running out to apply for federal Sept. 11 compensation

Just over a week remains for the families of Sept. 11 attack victims and injured survivors to apply for money from the government's compensation fund.

So far, 4,443 claims have been filed by relatives of those who died and by people injured in the attacks. The average payout is $1.77 million. The deadline to apply is Dec. 22.

The total payout should be $2 billion to $3 billion -- well under what had been estimated, said Kenneth Feinberg, the fund's special master. When the fund was started, the price was pegged at $6 billion by the Congressional Budget Office and some believed it could climb higher.

Feinberg said officials initially thought many more people had died on Sept. 11, 2001, than the actual totals. Because there were fewer victims, there were fewer claims on the fund, he said.

The fund was created by Congress soon after the attacks to aid the families of those killed or injured, and to protect the airline industry and government entities from lawsuits. Families who receive money from the fund agree not to sue.

Awards are based on the victim's projected lifetime income plus variables like the number of children and the amount of money available from other sources, such as life insurance.

Lawyer Justin Green, whose firm represents hundreds of Sept. 11 families, said his chief worry is that some believe the deadline "is like taxes -- that you can file late and only pay a small penalty. In the case of the fund, the penalty is that you get nothing."

With only days remaining, it's unclear whether the fund will reach Feinberg's long-stated goal of signing up 90 percent of the nearly 3,000 families whose loved ones were killed. The total now is 75 percent.

"In the last six weeks there has been a substantial flood of additional claims," Feinberg said. "I continue to believe we will see a tremendous surge in additional claims, and I'm not yet ready to say I was erroneous in predicting at least 90 percent."

To date, 1,300 payments totaling $1.4 billion have been paid.

The highest award to the family of someone killed has been just under $7 million, while one survivor who suffered severe burns received $7.9 million.

Bill Doyle, a retiree whose son Joey died on the 101st floor of the World Trade Center's north tower, said he struggled over whether to apply for compensation or sue.

In the end he decided to seek money from the fund and now is working to encourage others to do the same. He said the independent commission set up by the federal government to study the terrorist attacks can find out what really happened, rather than using a lawsuit to question government and airline officials.

Some families, angry over the restrictions on lawsuits, have refused to apply to the fund. They argue it would hurt their effort to determine if negligence by American officials or companies allowed the terror attacks to succeed.

"I am disgusted with the entire process," said Sally Regenhard, whose firefighter son was killed in the World Trade Center.

Seventy-three families, including Regenhard, have joined lawsuits over the attacks. Many of those suing are relatives of those killed aboard the four hijacked airliners.

Professor Perry Binder at the Robinson School at Georgia State University's College of Business warned that lawsuits may never provide the answers many angry and distraught families want. The federal government will seek to block certain critical information from the public eye, citing national security interests, he said.

"That's the only thing I am 100 percent sure about," Binder said.