Lawyers Offer Free Advice For WTC Victims
An insurer group is questioning the value of a "task force" of attorneys that is offering free legal services for victims of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
"Were helping people with immediate questions, and on a long-term basis, if someone actually needs more extensive assistance, well assign a pro bono attorney who will help them," said Jeannine Chanes, a partner with Fried & Epstein in New York City.
"A lot of these questions are so basic, they dont need their own attorney, they just need someone to say, This is the policy provision you look at, this is the letter you write, and come back to us when you have a response,'" she said.
The group has established a Web site, www.wtcinsurance.org, which includes checklists and pointers on coverage issues arising out of the attacks.
But Kirk Hansen, director of claims at the Alliance of American Insurers in Downers Grove, Ill., said he has concerns about the organizations efforts.
"While we appreciate the help of volunteers in this disaster, Im not sure this is the best solution for helping people," he said. "My concern is that the New York Insurance Department Web site already has this information, with phone numbers and links to the insurers sites, so that a policyholder can make their claim directly to the insurer."
Mr. Hansen added that "by using this Web site, a third party is being injected into it–a lawyer–and from the beginning it would create a litigious aspect in the presentation of any claim."
He said this would be especially bad "in light of the American Trial Lawyers Associations effort to place a moratorium on the filing of lawsuits in the wake of this disaster. Its even more of a concern in the fact that this Web site specifically mentions lawsuits and third-party claims."
Reproduced from National Underwriter Property & Casualty/Risk & Benefits Management Edition, October 8, 2001. Copyright 2001 by The National Underwriter Company in the serial publication. All rights reserved.Copyright in this article as an independent work may be held by the author.
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