Brooklyn Law School BrooklynWorks Faculty Scholarship Winter 2003 Grief, Procedure and Justice: The eptS ember 11th Victim Compensation Fund Elizabeth M. Schneider Brooklyn Law School,
[email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://brooklynworks.brooklaw.edu/faculty Part of the Dispute Resolution and Arbitration Commons, Legal Remedies Commons, and the Other Law Commons Recommended Citation 53 DePaul L. Rev. 457 (2003-2004) This Article is brought to you for free and open access by BrooklynWorks. It has been accepted for inclusion in Faculty Scholarship by an authorized administrator of BrooklynWorks. GRIEF, PROCEDURE, AND JUSTICE: THE SEPTEMBER 11TH VICTIM COMPENSATION FUND Elizabeth M. Schneider* INTRODUCTION The September 11th Victim Compensation Fund of 2001 is unprece- dented in the American legal system. The Victim Compensation Fund emerged from congressional efforts to bail out the airlines from law- suits arising from the September 11th tragedy. The compromise was to give those who lost family members, or were injured, something in return for waiving the right to sue the airlines-to give them compen- sation for their loss. In this Article, I examine the Fund through the lens of the ex- traordinary grief and trauma-both collective and individual-that has shaped our post-September 11th psychic, social, and political land- scape. The grief and trauma that we have experienced as individuals and as a nation is unprecedented-a level of fear, anxiety, sadness, and a sense of horror as what was previously unimaginable has now become imaginable. Because the grief and trauma experienced as a result of September 11th has been so profound, so widely shared, and so public, it is especially important to consider these issues in assessing the Fund.