Epilogue

On the eve of the most bitterly contested trial in recent New York history, both sides in the massive ground zero lawsuit blinked. On a Thursday afternoon in early March 2010, lawyers announced that they had reached the comprehensive type of global settlement that Judge Alvin Hellerstein had been advocating so earnestly for so many years. The 70-page draft agreement that Hellerstein had alluded to in his courtroom a few months earlier, much to the surprise of lawyers, had morphed into 95 pages of excruciatingly detailed compromise, followed by an entire alphabet of exhibits detailing an elaborate scheme for putting a price on sickness without determining fault.

With New York City straining for a way to bring this sorrowful chapter to a peaceful end, the proposal was instantly acclaimed. In a hastily organized round-robin of news conferences and interviews, lawyers for the plaintiffs, the defense, and the captive insurance company recognized the document as an imperfect solution, but one they believed addressed basic issues of fairness that would finally allow injured responders to receive the compensation they justly deserved. The draft deal triggered a citywide catharsis, finally bleeding off some of the bile that had soured New Yorkers since the earliest conflicts over safety and the meaning of the dust.