New York claims it has legal immunity to a lawsuit filed by more than 8,000 police officers, firefighters and construction workers who claim they have health problems as a result of working to clear the remains of the World Trade Center. However, a federal judge is questioning whether that immunity, given to the city by the State Defense Emergency Act, was in effect for the nine months it took to complete the clean up and whether the establishment of a $1 billion federal insurance fund to cover such claims negates the immunity claim, according to The New York Times.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/23/nyregion/23responders.html?_r=1&oref=slogin