A $650 million dollar settlement was reached with rescue workers and cleanup workers with the city of New York. The rescue workers were involved at Ground Zero in the aftermath of the attack. This was a positive development because should something to that effect occur again, none would be willing to help. 10,000 plaintiffs would be compensated based on the severity of their illnesses.

Payouts would come out of a federally financed cleanup fund. The settlement took two years to come to an end, with the city holding out and blaming other factors for the illnesses developed by the plaintiffs. Now the settlement has seemed to find favors with both sides.

Firefighters, police officers, cleanup crews and others spent hundreds of hours working in the toxic area and wanted to be compensated for the illnesses that developed later. The types of illnesses contracted often take years to manifest themselves by means of symptoms. Asthma and respiratory illnesses were the bulk of the illnesses contracted and disputed by New York City authorities.

Lawyers for the plaintiffs would collect about a third of the settlement amount. Insurance sponsored by FEMA has already paid out the $200 million in New York City legal fees.