Reflections on the 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund

Abstract

This chapter examines the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund (VCF) created by Congress in the wake of the 2001 terrorist attacks in the USA. The background leading up to the VCF and the rules it promulgated are presented, as is the role of the National Association of Forensic Economics in influencing the final guidelines issued by the Special Master. Partially as a result, VCF rules were modified to permit inclusion of the valuation of services, but that required an economist to quantify their value. The chapter explains how economic calculations were made under VCF rules, and how they differed in some important ways from calculations typically made in tort litigation. The chapter concludes by examining the possibility of applying a VCF-type system to other mass tort litigation.