Workers hit by WTC toxic dust settle suit for $712mn

NEW YORK: A deal reached by New York City and workers exposed to toxic dust that blanketed ground zero after September 11 will resolve majority of the lawsuits over the city’s failure to provide protective equipment to the responders.

Over 10,000 workers, police officers and firefighters who cleared the World Trade Center joined a settlement worth $712 million, officials said. Among the thousands who claimed soot at the site got into their lungs and made them sick, more than 95% eligible for the settlement agreed to take the offer.

City officials and lawyers for the workers said they welcomed a resolution to a case that had pitted New York and demolition companies against the very men and women who helped lower Manhattan recover.

The workers who removed debris from site of WTC collapse had claimed the soot got into their lungs and made them sick.