{"id":2841,"date":"2022-01-19T19:44:00","date_gmt":"2022-01-19T19:44:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new.www.purdue.edu\/newsroom\/?p=2841"},"modified":"2024-06-14T19:52:17","modified_gmt":"2024-06-14T19:52:17","slug":"whats-a-life-worth-presidential-lecture-series-guest-to-discuss-his-role-leading-9-11-victims-fund-others-spawned-by-tragedies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/newsroom\/2022\/Q1\/whats-a-life-worth-presidential-lecture-series-guest-to-discuss-his-role-leading-9-11-victims-fund-others-spawned-by-tragedies","title":{"rendered":"What\u2019s a life worth? Presidential Lecture Series guest to discuss his role leading 9\/11 victims fund, others spawned by tragedies"},"content":{"rendered":"

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. —<\/p> \n

Washington, D.C., attorney Kenneth R. Feinberg might not be well-known beyond the Beltway. But his remarkable work the past 35 years as the nation\u2019s leading mediator in the most complex disputes and compensation claim cases certainly is.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

After all, how many people can say you were portrayed in the movies by an Academy Award-winning actor. In \u201cWorth<\/a>,\u201d released by Netflix to coincide with the 20th anniversary of the 9\/11 terrorist attacks, Michael Keaton plays Feinberg. The film was adapted from Feinberg\u2019s 2005 book, \u201cWhat is Life Worth?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt was a surreal experience watching that movie come to the screen, but I thought they did a pretty good job of conveying the challenges we faced,\u201d Feinberg says. \u201cNow if you ask my children, they\u2019ll say, \u2018Dad, it\u2019s a pretty good movie. Michael Keaton is a great actor, but when it comes to playing you, he should stick to Batman and Beetlejuice.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Feinberg will join Purdue President Mitch Daniels as part of Presidential Lecture Series<\/a> at 6:30 p.m. Feb. 1 in Stewart Center\u2019s Loeb Playhouse. The event is titled \u201cWhat\u2019s a Life Worth? When tragedy strikes, how do you do the impossible: Calculate the dollar value of the lives lost?\u201dSponsored by the Purdue President\u2019s Council, the event is free and open to the public and also will be livestreamed<\/a>. Visitors to campus are required to wear masks in indoor settings and follow Protect Purdue guidelines<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Time and again, Feinberg has been assigned the unimaginable task of determining the value of a lost life. Most notably, in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks, he served as special master of the 9\/11 Victim Compensation Fund, overseeing distribution of more than $7 billion to 5,562 survivors and victims\u2019 families.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A former prosecutor and member of two presidential commissions, Feinberg has overseen billions of dollars in victim compensation funds following other tragedies, including the 2008 financial crisis, BP Deepwater Horizon Gulf oil spill, Virginia Tech and Sandy Hook shootings, Boston Marathon bombing, Pulse nightclub tragedy in Orlando and clergy abuse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Feinberg also was tapped in 2011 by then-Gov. Mitch Daniels to manage the fund following the Indiana State Fair stage rig collapse that killed seven people and injured more than 100.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before his role as special master of the 9\/11 fund, he oversaw the Agent Orange Victim Compensation Program, a $197 million settlement fund for 52,000 Vietnam War veterans, and handled cases involving asbestos poisoning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In case after case, the focus of these efforts was on the victims of the tragedies, not the compensation fund administrator with the bureaucratic title, says Feinberg of the low profile he has preferred over the years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen you\u2019re offering people money who have suffered grievous harm and loss, you don\u2019t want to be on Facebook. You want to avoid social media as much as possible,\u201d he says. \u201cI\u2019m never called for the creation of any of these funds. It\u2019s when Mitch Daniels calls you, John Ashcroft calls you, or Gov. Deval Patrick and Mayor Menino after the Boston Marathon bombings. They called. And you respond as a citizen, as a patriot. If you can give back to the country by designing and administering these programs, you do it. And you do it as long as you\u2019re successful.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yet when Feinberg is called on to oversee a fund after one of these tragedies, he dismisses the role of \u201cplaying God\u201d in calculating a life\u2019s value. That, he says, is done across America every day \u2013 in every courtroom, in every city, county, village, town. Two basic questions are at the heart of the matter: What would the victim have earned over their work life? And how much additional compensation for pain, suffering and emotional distress is appropriate? Feinberg, however, describes that process in our U.S. courts system as \u201ca rather cold calculation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur American courts don\u2019t look into dignity, courage, loyalty, love, integrity,\u201d Feinberg says. \u201cWhat makes this job so difficult \u2013 and so debilitating \u2013 is the emotion. It\u2019s the emotion when you\u2019re designated as the individual to bear the brunt of the reaction of victims and their families and innocent victims to a horror that nobody contemplates. You never get over it. You become less a lawyer and more priest, a rabbi or a psychiatrist in meeting privately, in confidence with individual claimants, and that is horrific and extremely debilitating.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

9\/11 and Mitch Daniels<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

As chief of staff of the late U.S. Sen. Ted Kennedy, Feinberg would join a nation in navigating the emotional considerations that arose after 9\/11 as America confronted the reality that this was a terrorist attack from a foreign foe on U.S. soil.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Additionally, how could a fund address the thousands of claims from the attacks while protecting the airline industry and the broader U.S. economy? And would political and potentially partisan bickering come into play over a clear federal statute that gave Congress the authority to use taxpayer funds to pay the 9\/11 claimants?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Feinberg recalls then-U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft telling him, \u201cI talked to Sen. Kennedy, and I\u2019m very interested in you being considered for this very important assignment. But you better get down and talk to Mitch Daniels at OMB. So I went down to the OMB, not knowing what to expect. And Mitch Daniels was incredible.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In discussions with Daniels, then-director of the Office of Management and Budget for the Bush administration, Feinberg recalls concerns about how the public might react to a generous compensation program. \u201cAnd Mitch said to me, \u2018You know, there\u2019s a lot of value, Ken, in having Senator Kennedy\u2019s chief of staff doing this. If it works, we selected you. And if it fails, what would you expect? He\u2019s Kennedy\u2019s guy?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Daniels knew Feinberg\u2019s track record and pledged he would support him every step of the way. \u201cLet\u2019s do it right,\u201d Feinberg recalls Daniels saying. \u201cIt is not a political assignment. It\u2019s a very historical and sensitive assignment.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over the next 33 months, Feinberg says, Daniels would seek a status report with reminders that he was there to troubleshoot any obstacles \u2013 from Congress, the White House, the Department of Justice \u2013 that got in the way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHe (Mitch) was just a fabulous partner in making sure I was given a free rein with my expertise to go forward with the program and not be sidetracked by politics or personal criticism, Feinberg says. \u201cHe was just terrific, and he\u2019s been terrific ever since.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In all, $7 billion was awarded tax-free to 97% of the affected individuals and families, and Feinberg personally presided over 900 of the 1,600 hearings. After the program\u2019s success, Feinberg recalls Daniels saying, \u201c\u2018Ken, the program worked. It turned out to be sound public policy. Let\u2019s not ever do this again. This is a one-off response to an unprecedented tragedy in American history. But it\u2019s a precedent for nothing. Let\u2019s not replicate it.\u2019 And I agree with him on that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A decade later, a windstorm swept through the Indiana State Fairgrounds on Aug. 13, 2011, killing seven people when the stage collapsed during an outdoor concert by Sugarland. Then-Gov. Daniels immediately contacted Feinberg, who canceled his appointments for the next week and flew to Indianapolis to meet with Daniels. \u201cI told him I\u2019ll do it, but that I didn\u2019t want to be paid for this, to help people with victims,\u201d Feinberg told Daniels. \u201cOnce again, Mitch was my leader and really pointed me in the direction of what he wanted to accomplish.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lawyer or spiritual advisor<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

During Feinberg\u2019s formative years when he was 9, a cantor at his family\u2019s synagogue in Brockton, Massachusetts, sparked an interest in Hebraic melodies as well as opera and classical music. And that deep love of music, as the movie \u201cWorth\u201d depicts, has been a very important part of Feinberg\u2019s life as a way to shut off, or apply a salve, in dealing with the horrors of our world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI find that as a relief from stress. Listening to the height of civilization \u2013\u00ad I mean, really, Beethoven and Brahms \u2013 is such a reinforcement for me that the world is really filled with good people and creative geniuses who want to do the right thing,\u201d he says. \u201cAnd I get tremendous personal relief and satisfaction that no matter how bad things may appear to be during the day \u2013 dealing with the horrors of civilization \u2013 to sit back and listen to what civilization can bring to human beings, the genius of these people is a tremendous palliative.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While successful in his preceding years as a litigator, Feinberg says there\u2019s no textbook, no law journal that can prepare anyone for the emotional toll of meeting with a 9\/11 victim who has burns over 90% of their body, or the surviving widow of a lost New York City firefighter struggling with terminal cancer who now must find a way to care for their two children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAll the training you\u2019ve had over the years as a lawyer doesn\u2019t stand you very much in good stead,\u201d he says. \u201cNo, better to have a divinity degree or a degree in psychiatry. The stories from individuals were chilling, just absolutely chilling. And yet, you have to afford them that opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In fact, few family members wanted to talk about money or compensation, Feinberg recalls from his many personal meetings for the 9\/11 fund and other cases. Instead, these sessions gave the families an emotional release and an opportunity to memorialize lives well lived.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPeople wanted to let the steam out of the pressure cooker and then at me: \u2018How could I lose my daughter? She was an angel, she\u2019s gone. Don\u2019t tell me, Mr. Feinberg, that there\u2019s a God. No God would allow this to happen,\u2019\u201d he says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cA second reason they came to see me was to validate the memory of the lost loved one. \u2018Mr. Feinberg,\u2019 they\u2019d say, \u2018I lost my wife at the World Trade Center. And at this private hearing now, I\u2019d like to show you a video of our wedding 25 years ago.\u2019 I would say, \u2018Mr. Jones, you don\u2019t have to show me that video. It won\u2019t have any bearing on compensation. But they would insist, \u2018You\u2019re going to watch! I want you to see what those murderers did to my angel. Play the video.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From these countless, emotion-filled interactions, Feinberg says, he\u2019s come to understand that \u201cmoney is a pretty hollow substitute for a life. You just do the job, get out and hope and pray that there won\u2019t be another one.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

Presidential Lecture Series<\/a><\/h2>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

What\u2019s a Life Worth? When tragedy strikes, how do you do the impossible: Calculate the dollar value of the lives lost?<\/p>\n\n\n\n