Dispatch: Latest in 9/11 Health Claims

Lawyers for 10,000 Ground Zero workers suing New York City padded their expenses by billing for public-relations efforts and lobbyists, according to court papers reviewed by the New York Post. Lawyer Paul Napoli defended all the expenses as “perfectly justifiable and “perfectly legitimate,” as they met the legal standard of “advancing the client’s case.”

“Certainly there was a big public relations campaign to plant this idea in people’s heads that workers got sick because of their exposure,” says Stier.

“And this public relations campaign may have been effective. Maybe it was necessary because they didn’t have the science? The bottom line is taxpayers are still paying the price.”

Stier adds that the Post should have known better than to refer to the plaintiffs as “nearly 10,000 sickened Ground Zero workers,” because it wrongfully implies they were sickened from their work at Ground Zero.

“We all are grateful to the men and women who responded to the 9/11 attack,” says Dr. Whelan. “But that gratitude does not justify junk science being introduced to advance the claim that 10,000 Ground Zero workers are entitled to significant financial awards on the assumption that service on 9/11 made them ill.”