9/11 Hero Wins Death Benefit Claim

NEW YORK --

No one ordered Glenn Winuk to grab a medical bag and rush into the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001. He was not in uniform, and he made his living as a lawyer, not an EMT.

But the longtime volunteer firefighter did it anyway - and now a judge has ruled that he died in the line of duty and that his relatives are eligible for a $250,000 death benefit for public safety officers killed on the job.

In a ruling Wednesday, Federal Court of Claims Judge Marian Blank Horn called the Justice Department's decision to deny the family a benefit payment "arbitrary."

The Justice Department said that Winuk didn't qualify because he had let his full-duty status in the Jericho Volunteer Fire Department on Long Island lapse in 1998. The benefit, the department said, was intended for active duty personnel only.

The 40-year-old lawyer perished in the twin towers' collapse after rushing to ground zero from his downtown office to aid victims of the terror attacks.

Horn wrote that Winuk's duty status on Sept. 11 should have been clear: He had decades of experience as a firefighter, and he was wearing surgical gloves and a stethoscope when he died. Jericho's fire chief certified after Winuk's death that he was representing the department.

"That should have been the end of it," Horn wrote.

To clarify the point further, state lawmakers passed a statute declaring that Winuk died in the line of duty, and New York City's former fire commissioner wrote a letter to the Justice Department calling Winuk "a true fireman" whose help was needed.

Winuk's brother, Jay, said the family was hopeful there would be no appeal. He said the case was about more than $250,000.

"What matters is that, for the first time, we are able to say that the United States of America recognizes Glenn Winuk's line of duty status," Jay Winuk said Friday. "That means a great deal to our family, when you consider what happened here."

Justice department officials did not immediately return calls seeking comment.

Like other families who lost relatives at the World Trade Center, Glenn Winuk's parents received a sizable payment from the federal Victims' Compensation Fund. The dispute involved a separate benefit under a law that provides a one-time payment to the families of slain police, firefighters and government rescue workers.

News stories provided by third parties are not edited by "Site Publication" staff. For suggestions and comments, please click the Contact link at the bottom of this page.