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State Fair Victims Should Submit Claims

Last updated on Thursday, September 8, 2011

(UNDATED) - The former administrator of the 9/11 Compensation Fund says victims of the state fair stage collapse shouldn’t dawdle in submitting damage claims to the state.

Kenneth Feinberg is advising attorney general Greg Zoeller on both the process and the formula for compensating people injured in the stage collapse. State law gives victims till May 9 to submit claims, but both men are urging victims to turn in claims by early fall so the state can move quickly on payments.

The law caps the state's total payout at five-million dollars, meaning victims who wait till the last minute might find no money left. With a limit on how much the state will pay, Feinberg says he'll first decide how much of the five-million should be reserved for the families of those killed, then turn to how to divide the total among individual claims.

Sixteen claims have been received so far, including claims from the families of four of the seven people killed. Also among the claims is an Indianapolis woman who was unhurt but is claiming emotional distress. Zoeller says he's not prejudging anything, but says his focus will be on steering money to people killed or seriously injured.

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