Overseeing compensation funds for victims of deadly mass tragedies has made Kenneth Feinberg a national Mediator in Chief — part therapist, judge and healer. His grim task — to calculate the monetary value of lost limbs, lives and livelihoods — has taught him what works in restitution: “Speed, simplicity, transparency, responsiveness, outreach.”
Will the same lessons apply as Feinberg advises General Motors Corp. on how to compensate victims of accidents in millions of cars it recalled because of defective ignition switches? “We’re still reviewing the data and looking at the scope of the problem,” he said in a recent interview. “I would think all of the lessons will be considered: How transparent will the protocol be, how simple, how efficient, how speedy? What will be the nature of the outreach effort? How will we go about informing the public — if and when there is a compensation program set up?”
