Domestic Partners of 9/11 Victim get Monetary Awards

In Cruzv. McAneney, (N.Y.A.D. 2 Dept) 2006 WL 1174142, the domestic partner of a victim of theterrorist attacks of September 11th, 2001, brought suit against the victim’sestate, seeking to recover all or part of a monetaryaward distributed by the federal Victim Compensation Fund. The defendant, thevictim’s brother, moved to dismiss the complaint saying that it failed to statea cause of action.

The court said in pertinent part:

Viewingthe allegations in the light most favorable to the plaintiff, justice in theinstant case could conceivably require the imposition of a constructive trust,and concomitantly show that the defendant, in his personal capacity, would beunjustly enriched if he was also allowed to retain the portion of the Fund’s awardthat was allegedly increased after the plaintiff’s application to the Fund andin recognition of the plaintiff’s loss of her lifetime partner.

Thelegislation enacted in our State following the September 11, 2001, terroristattack also lends support to the argument that the plaintiff may be entitled,at least, to the increased portion of the award as compensation for her loss,such as a law providing same-sex domestic partners with certain rights tocompensate for the loss of their loved ones due to this specific, horrificevent.

The Legislaturedeclared, inter alia, “that domestic partners of victims of the terroristattacks are eligible for distributions from the federal victim compensationfund, and the requirements for awards under the New York State World TradeCenter Relief Fund and other existing state laws, regulations, and executiveorders should guide the federal special master in determining awards andensuring that the distribution plan compensates such domestic partners for thelosses they sustained” (L. 2002, ch. 73, § 1).

Althoughthis legislation did not make any changes to this State’s intestacy laws, itrecognized that domestic partners should be compensated from the Fund for theloss of their loved ones ( see 2002 McKinney’s Session Laws 8 N.Y. at 1710).