In Re HOLOCAUST VICTIM ASSETS LITIGATION (Swiss Banks)SPECIAL MASTER’S PROPOSAL, September 11, 2000 R&O-698027.1B - 81.Structure of Distribution PlanAs adopted, the Special Master’s distribution plan made direct individual cashpayments to only two categories of claimants: (1) totally disabled veterans who were exposed toAgent Orange, and (2) the survivors of exposed veterans who had died.30No causal connectionbetween Agent Orange and the compensated injuries was required under the adopted plan. Inaddition, the degree of exposure to Agent Orange would not be considered in making individualawards.31Significantly, the distribution plan also did not provide for direct payments to veteranswho were exposed to Agent Orange in Vietnam and who suffered diseases that were less thantotally disabling, or to family members who suffered birth defects or miscarriages, even thoughsuch claims were to be released under the settlement. Instead, the Court concluded that aseparate “class assistance foundation” which would “fund services to help meet the needs of theentire class” was the appropriate mechanism to compensate such class members.322.Rationale for Limited Individual PaymentsThe district court justified “channeling individual compensation payments to classmembers in only certain categories” on a number of grounds.33First, “the settlement fund,though large in absolute terms, is not sufficient to satisfy the claimed losses of every classmember.”34Second, even in light of the tenuous causal connection between Agent Orange and30Id. at 1411-12.31Id. at 1415.32Id. at 1411. According to the district court, “only totally disabled veterans and the surviving spouses
or children of deceased veterans will receive individual cash awards.