New York Injury Talk Blog

Thousands of sickened 9/11 recovery workers whose legal claims have been barred because of deadlines will now be able to join a large group suing New York City under a new law signed by Gov. David A. Patterson. According to a news report in Newsday, the law will allow more than 3,000 workers to revive lawsuits that were thrown out by a federal judge in July because they were not filed within 90 days of the workers' conditions being diagnosed.

These workers included carpenters, plumbers and construction workers who worked for months on the Ground Zero site because they were told it was safe to do so and that there were no environmental hazards. However, a number of these workers apparently developed health issues such as lung problems, post-traumatic stress disorder, depression and sinusitis. The workers say that they were "lied to" that the air in Ground Zero was good to breathe at the time.

This is good news for these workers who got left out because of a technicality. There is no question that some of these workers have suffered serious consequences as a result of breathing the air at Ground Zero. They should have been informed about the poor air quality before they started work there. Many of these workers have been disabled and are unable to perform the jobs they were doing before. To have their claims tossed out because of a technicality is simply not fair.