9/11 Lawyers – Why choose Hansen & Rosasco

We care about our clients, and it shows in the financial awards we have obtained for them. From the start, we will sit down to meet with you (if safe for you during the Covid-19 pandemic), so we can discuss your case and your illness. We want to listen to your 9/11 experience first and learn more about your story, your fears, and your concerns. Most of our clients are scared and devastated to face long-term illnesses such as cancer and chronic disabling breathing conditions. They are good people who were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. Many rushed into the rubble without fear for their lives. Others were residents who lived in a dust-filled cloud with their families for months in areas such as Tribeca or Battery Park City. Others returned to their jobs in the “toxic soup” area below Canal Street in lower Manhattan just days after the attack when Christine Todd Whitman, the then federal EPA Administrator, declared the air was “safe to breathe” (a statement that will live in infamy for the over 3000 deaths it has contributed to to date). Others were college students at downtown Manhattan universities, such as Pace University and the Borough of Manhattan Community College (BMCC), Others were students at downtown high schools, such as Stuyvesant High School and various NYC public schools. Lower Manhattan after 9/11 was our Chernobyl. It is a sad and tragic legacy brought to our shores by terrorists. 

When we represent a client, we are in it for the long haul. We stand by them and fight to help them obtain the benefits and compensation they deserve. Our 9/11 lawyers are lifelong New Yorkers. We lost family and friends due to 9/11 and we know that the pain of that day will never end. That is why we dedicated our practice to their memories and to helping survivors who still suffer. It is this personalized attention and dedication that brings so many New Yorkers to choose us to represent them after they become diagnosed with a 9/11 cancer or lung disease.

At Hansen & Rosasco, LLP, our 9/11 attorneys have helped numerous New Yorkers, first responders, and their families get the benefits and compensation they deserve. To date, we have recovered more than $300 million for our clients, with many receiving awards of over $1 million.

Here are just some of the awards and compensation we secured for our clients.

• $3.4 million for a downtown Manhattan professional diagnosed with breast cancer and receiving Social Security disability.
• $3.2 million for a NYPD police officer diagnosed with colon cancer permanently disabled and receiving a disability pension.
• $3 million for a spouse of a Wall Street broker who died from multiple myeloma.
• $1.3 million for the family of deceased Tully construction concrete worker at Ground Zero.
• $1 million for Battery Park resident with breast cancer
• $884,000 for a Tribeca resident who died from thymus cancer
• $872,000 for NYU student with rectal cancer.

While past success does not guarantee future results, you can rest assured knowing you are in good hands with our September 11 lawyers. We know what it takes to secure the highest compensation you deserve.

We Were There When the Towers Fell

Hansen & Rosasco Attorneys took their first pro bono case in October 2001, assisting a family who had lost their 22-year-old son when the North tower collapsed. His mother worked at a financial institution at the World Trade Center and had helped her son get the job at the Windows of the World Restaurant on the 107th floor. On September 11th, she escaped the building safely, but her son did not.

After successfully helping this woman—wracked with grief and survivor’s guilt—to obtain the compensation she deserved, we realized that helping the victims of 9/11 is our calling.

We Were There When the Federal Programs Were Created

Within days of the terror attack, Congress had authorized the creation of the original September 11th Victim Compensation Fund (VCF), which provides needed compensation for those most impacted by the terror attacks. The program, which offered an alternative to tort litigation, provided $7 billion in compensation between 2001-2004 under the leadership of then-Special Master Kenneth Feinberg. Around 5,500 claimants received compensation from the original VCF.

By 2010, nearly a decade after the attacks occurred, it had become painfully obvious that the casualties of the attack weren’t just the people in the planes or in the buildings who perished on 9/11.

Instead, a growing number of first responders, general responders, and survivors lived, worked, or attended school or daycare in the 1.5-mile radius around the World Trade Center. They were exposed to the toxic dust plume produced by the towers’ collapse. It blanketed the area for months afterward. Some are only now becoming sick from this toxic exposure.

In response to the ongoing needs of the 9/11 community and the government officials who told workers and residents that the debris was safe to be around, Congress passed the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act. Then-President Barack Obama signed the act into law in early 2011.

VCF Reauthorization

One provision of the Zadroga Act was the reauthorization of the VCF in 2011, with new eligibility criteria, filing deadlines, and limited funding. The law reauthorized the VCF for five years, and it was reauthorized again in 2015 for another five years. In February 2019, the program’s administrators reported insufficient funds to compensate for all pending and future claims. The decision cut the awards by about 70 percent to preserve available funding.

That summer, then-President Donald Trump signed the Never Forget the Heroes Act into law: James Zadroga, Ray Pfeifer, and Luis Alvarez Permanent Authorization of the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund.

The passage of that law extended the filing deadline for VCF claims from December 18th, 2020, to October 1st, 2090, ensuring that anyone who suffered a 9/11-related illness at any time in their life could seek compensation from the fund.

Additionally, the new law requires Congress to appropriate the funds necessary to keep the program viable through the upcoming decades.

Creation of the World Trade Center Health Program (WTCHP)

In addition to reauthorizing the VCF, the Zadroga Act resulted in another federal benefits program focused on the 9/11 community, the World Trade Center Health Program (WTCHP).

This program replaced two similar programs—the Medical Monitoring and Treatment Program and the WTC Environmental Health Center Community Program—and was placed under the direction of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), an arm of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and housed within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

The WTCHP provides no-cost medical monitoring services for individuals who were exposed to toxins at any of the 9/11 terror attack sites, as well as treatment of 9/11-related medical conditions through its Clinical Centers of Excellence throughout New York City, and through the program’s Nationwide Provider Network.

The program also has a list of covered conditions scientifically shown to be caused by the toxins found in the World Trade Center dust. The program also has a certification process for determining if a program participant’s medical condition was related to 9/11. Although they are two distinctly separate programs, the WTCHP certification of covered conditions can also satisfy some of the eligibility requirements for obtaining compensation through the VCF.