9/11 expert to help Indiana State Fair with compensations

In the weeks after the August stage collapse at the Indiana State Fair, more than $263,000 has been donated to a fund to help the victims.  

Now, the attorney who presided over victims’ compensation for the terrorist attacks on 9/11 will oversee the dispersal of that money, Indiana State Fair Commission chairman Andre Lacy announced Wednesday.

“Our goal is to get the funds donated by the bands, Hoosiers and many others who have stepped up to help the accident victims and families as soon as we can in a manner consistent with rules for charitable giving,” Lacy said in a press release. “To have the foremost expert in the world help us do this right is an unexpected plus.”

On Aug. 13, seven people died, and 40 people were injured when a powerful gust of wind, carrying rain and soil, slammed into the fair’s main stage. The stage toppled into the crowd as fans waited to hear the country duo Sugarland perform.

The collapse was the worst accident at the fairgrounds since 1963, when a propane tank exploded at its coliseum, killing 74 people during an ice skating performance.

Attorney Kenneth Feinberg will help to “quickly and privately” distribute the $263,000 that is currently in the Indiana State Fair Remembrance Fund, which was created on Aug. 15, Lacy said.

An additional $55,000 in concert proceeds, donated by the bands Train and Maroon 5, are not yet included in the fund. The musicians performed their scheduled state fair concerts at Conseco Fieldhouse after the accident.

Like the 33 months he spent working pro bono with the victims of 9/11, Feinberg is donating his time and expertise, Lacy said.

Feinberg will help the State Fair Commission determine who is eligible for the donations as well as develop a claims process.

The payments from the relief fund are considered charitable gifts, the commission stated, and are not compensation for any injuries or legal rights resulting from the accident.

Feinberg will also serve as consultant to the office of
Indiana Attorney General Greg Zoeller to develop a protocol in dealing with those claims.

In a press release, Zoeller said damages that can be
received in lawsuits against the state, by Indiana law, have a $700,000 cap per person, or $5 million cap per incident.

“We want to move to pay the full $5 million that the state’s law allows as soon as an equitable formula can be devised,” Zoeller said. “My goal is to focus on the needs of victims and their families while minimizing the expense of lengthy and costly litigation.”

 — Jake New