SEPTEMBER 2021 • LONGISLANDPRESS.COM 21
FEATURE
COFFINAS & CANNAVO P.C. STILL FIGHTING FOR 9/11 SURVIVORS
earning the firm the National Law Journal’s
2004 Pro Bono Award.
“The firefighter community was hit extremely
hard by the terrorist attacks,”
Papain says. ”We saw our pro bono
work as a way to give back to those who
had lost so much in the line of duty.”
When the fund closed, Papain and his
partners knew that the human toll of
the 9/11 attacks would continue to grow.
Papain’s law firm continued to receive
phone calls from firefighters and other
first responders who had been diagnosed
with respiratory illnesses as a result of
their exposure to the deadly toxins that
permeated the air around Ground Zero
for months following the attacks.
“After the fund closed, we were the first
to bring suit, in federal court, on behalf
of injured first responders, against the
City of New York and its contractors for
failing to provide proper respiratory
equipment during the rescue and recovery
operations,” Papain adds.
The World Trade Center Lower Manhattan
Disaster Site Litigation, as the case
became known, lasted for six years. The
number of claimants grew to more than
10,000, with Papain’s firm representing
more than 600 firefighters. Appointed
by the court as co-liaison counsel to the
claimants, “my firm assumed a leading
role in a long and hard-fought litigation
that culminated in a 2010 global settlement
for over $700 million.”
Meanwhile, in early 2010, a bill to
reopen the 9/11 Victim Compensation
Fund languished in Congress.
”The political pundits told me the bill to
reopen the fund would never become
law. I made it my mission to prove
them wrong,” Papain recalls. “In 2010,
I, along with many first responders and
other supporters, met with legislative
leaders to convince them of the need
to reopen the fund for the many who
had been diagnosed with 9/11-related
disorders long after the first fund had
closed.”
Those efforts paid off with the bill being
passed by both houses of Congress in the
closing days of the 2010 legislative session.
The bill was signed into law on Jan. 2, 2011.
Notwithstanding, Papain notes, “Our
work to ensure adequate coverage was
far from done, with both the additional
funding and five-year extension proving
to be woefully inadequate.” In 2015, legislation
was enacted providing additional
funding and extending the fund another
five years. Finally, on July 29, 2019, the
fund was permanently extended.
“During the past two decades, I’ve seen
myself as a voice for 9/11 first responders.
Given my firm’s role in representing
them since day one, and our longstanding
relationship with New York City’s
firefighters, I have always thought it
incumbent on me to do so,” Papain says.
Papain is quick to point out that “the 9/11
Victim Compensation Fund is not just
for sickened first responders. The fund
is also for Lower Manhattan workers,
residents, and students (below Canal
Street) who have been certified by the
World Trade Center Health Program
as having a 9/11 WTC-related physical
illness linked to their exposure."
Sullivan Papain has represented more
than 3,000 first responders, workers,
residents, and students in the Victim
Compensation Fund, obtaining some
of the highest awards issued. As the
partner in charge of the firm’s 9/11 practice,
there have been few greater champions
for their cause than Papain, who
continues his 9/11 work to this day. He
is emphatic that each client knows they
have an attorney in charge of their case,
who is always available to take their call.
“They deserve that type of representation,”
he said. “Many have suffered
not only physically but mentally as
well. Many of our firefighters lost close
friends and co-workers on 9/11. Some lost
their entire company. Many witnessed
unspeakable horrors. Because of their
9/11 experiences, many first responders
suffer from post-traumatic stress.”
Papain’s dedication to helping those
impacted by 9/11 extends beyond his
work as an attorney.
Papain’s father was a Greek immigrant,
from a small village in central Greece
called Karitsa. When his dad arrived in
this country in December 1929, at age 15,
the Lower East Side became his home.
”My father was a man of faith who
was drawn to a small Greek Orthodox
church, at 155 Cedar St. in Lower Manhattan,
called St. Nicholas. It had been
a small tavern that a group of Greek
families had purchased and converted
into a church,” Papain notes.
“St. Nicholas was completely destroyed
on 9/11 when the South Tower collapsed.
It was the only non-WTC structure destroyed
in the attacks. St. Nicholas was
only a couple of blocks from my office,
and so, before 9/11, I would on occasion
go in to light a candle and say a prayer.
Its destruction became a rallying cry
for the Greek-American community, to
have it rebuilt as not only a church but
also as a national shrine,” he added.
In the 20 years since 9/11, more than $95
million has been raised for the construction
of the St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox
Church and National Shrine, in Liberty
Park adjacent to the 9/11 Memorial. “St.
Nicholas will not only serve as a Greek
Orthodox Church, but also as a National
Shrine and place of healing for all those
whose lives were changed by 9/11,” Papain
notes. It is scheduled to open in the
spring of 2022.
“Giving is the greatest gift of all,” Papain
adds. “When it comes to 9/11, I’m
grateful to be part of a firm that has
given to those who suffered and lost
so much, and I’m equally humbled to
be part of a community that helped to
rebuild a small church into a national
shrine where all may seek solace from
the wounds of 9/11.”
The reflecting pools at the 9/11 Memorial & Museum in Manhattan where
the Twin Towers once stood. (Getty Images)
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