Mayor Bloomberg’s Prior Statements And The WTC Captive’s Own Attorneys Support The Plaintiffs’ Contentions About The WTC Captive Insurance Company Inc.’S Mandate

For Immediate Release

New York, New York, July 17, 2007: Responding to today’s filing of a law suit against himself and the WTC Captive Insurance Co., Inc., Mayor Michael Bloomberg said that the attorneys “just don’t know the facts” about the purpose of the WTC Captive Insurance Co., Inc. “It’s the Mayor who doesn’t know the facts,” says Marc Jay Bern, attorney for the plaintiffs, “or more to the point, the Mayor chooses to overlook the facts.” In a joint press release on March 21, 2003 with Governor Pataki, announcing the legislation that allowed for the formation of the WTC Captive, Mayor Bloomberg is quoted as saying that “the City of New York, together with State officials and the New York Congressional delegation, has fought long and hard for federally-paid insurance to protect the City and its contractors for claims arising from the massive debris removal work done in the World Trade Center. This legislation is necessary for the City to expedite the payment of claims relating to this effort.”

Even the WTC Captive Insurance Company’s lawyers have said that the Captive was created to pay the injured workers’ claims. As noted in the minutes of a WTC Captive Board of Directors meeting on December 2, 2004, McDermott Will & Emery, LLP attorney Margaret Warner emphasized in her litigation status report that “the fundamental purpose behind the creation and funding of [the Captive] is to conserve and disburse its assets in an equitable manner that maximizes compensation to those parties who suffered damage as a result of the WTC site debris removal program.”
The plaintiffs in the suit filed today in the Supreme Court of the State of New York, Walcott et al., v. WTC Captive Insurance Company, Inc., et al., Index No.: 109755/07, claim that the WTC Captive, its Directors and the Mayor have misused and wasted the assets allocated by the Congress while refusing to consider or pay a single ill worker’s claim.

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For further information contact
Marc Jay Bern, Esq.
Worby Groner & Napoli Bern, LLP
115 Broadway, 12th Floor
New York, New York 10006
(516) 361-4909

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Marc Jay Bern

Senior Partner

Worby Groner & Napoli Bern, LLP

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