Anthrax Doctor's Suit With Justice Department Settled

WASHINGTON — A former Army scientist who was named as a person of interest in the 2001 anthrax attacks will receive $5.8 million to settle his lawsuit against the Justice Department. Steven Hatfill claimed the Justice Department violated his privacy rights by speaking with reporters about the case.

Settlement documents were filed in federal court Friday. Both sides have agreed to the deal, according to the documents, and as soon as they are signed, the case will be dismissed.

The deal requires the Justice Department to pay $2.825 million up front and buy Hatfill a $3 million annuity that will pay him $150,000 each year for 20 years.

"Our government failed us, not only by failing to catch the anthrax mailers but by seeking to conceal that failure," Hatfill's lawyers said in a statement. "Our government did this by leaking gossip, speculation, and misinformation to a handful of credulous reporters."

The statement also blamed journalists for not questioning the motives of the government's statements or its tactics.

"As an innocent man, and as our fellow citizen, Steven Hatfill deserved far better," they said.

The Justice Department said the settlement was in the best interest of the nation.

"The United States does not admit to any violation of the Privacy Act and continues to deny all liability in connection with Dr. Hatfill's claims," Justice Department spokesman Brian Roehrkasse said in response to the settlement.

Five people were killed and 17 sickened by anthrax that was mailed to lawmakers on Capitol Hill and members of the news media in New York and Florida just weeks after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

After the attacks, Attorney General John Ashcroft called Hatfill "a person of interest" in the investigation and stories by various reporters followed. Hatfill had worked at the Army's infectious diseases laboratory from 1997 to 1999. The anthrax attacks remain unsolved.

The settlement likely also means that former USA Today reporter Toni Locy will no longer face up to $5,000-a-day in fines in the case. A federal judge ordered her to identify the officials who discussed Hatfill. When she said she couldn't remember, the judge ordered her to identify all her sources on the anthrax case.

She challenged that order, but a federal appeals court has yet to rule in the case. Because Hatfill's lawsuit is being settled, Locy's case will probably be dismissed as moot, though that will be up to the appeals court. Hatfill's lawyers told the court Friday that they no longer need her testimony.

"I hope this means that this ordeal is over and that I can get on with my life," Locy said. "I am pleased that Dr. Hatfill's lawyers are now saying they no longer need my testimony, but I don't know if my appeal is moot or if the contempt order against me will be lifted because I don't have anything at this point from the Court of Appeals or Judge Walton that says I'm in the clear."

Attorneys for Locy said she had no money to pay the fines imposed by U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton. Locy, a former reporter with The Associated Press and other news organizations, now teaches journalism at West Virginia University.

Comments

[nogimmicks]

They were so generous because it is more or less clear who and why sent those letters for three opponents of the Iraq war. Just follow the good old "Cui bono?" principle.

[aht772e]

here is a question: Why would someone purchase a $3 million dollar annuity to pay out $150,000 over 20 years, essentially buying an instrument (a sort of reverse mortgqage)THAT PAYS NO INTEREST! Shouldn't such an annuity be worth more in the range of 2 million or so? AND, if the article is incorrect, that the annuity is actually worth less (as it should be if it is paying out 3 million over 20 years), then why is our government allowing some financial broker to make profit on a financial instrument, when the payout, a small $150k /year in a federal budget in the trillions (or a justic department n the 100 millions) could simply be budgeted for?

As for right and wrong, it is clear to me that the terorists that we should most fear are those with badges and the belief that they are entitled to to do whatever is necessary to "protect" the nation. The perpetrators were never found because it served the government's interests that we be afraid more than that they be brought to justice(assuming that it wasn't the government that sent the anthrax from the beginning). It seems to me that with "fingerprints" of weaponization, it would be fairly easy to id the source, but our government hoped we would believe the source to be Saddam.

[MOOCAT]

SOUNDS LIKE A KARL ROVE SCAM!

[the964kid]

Welcome to George Bush's America.

Tax payer dollars hard at work making innocent people rich and still no body ever charged in this disturbing case. John Ashcroft, great work.

After hearing about this outcome all I have left to say (as an innocent man) is: feel free to charge me too!!

[TheIndependenceParty]

Whoever planned these bio-attacks knew where to get the materials, who to target and who to blame. To those who would hog-tie the courts as "activists", remember the case of Hatfield and imagine if you were in his shoes. Good on him for having the courage to see this through. Now, perhaps the MSM can do their job responsibly, and dispel the myth that he was the one who sent the Anthrax letters.

[Krikkit]

Oh great. Like WVU needs more bad publicity.

[Krikkit]

A couple of things. First, Hatfield had the money to pursue this. Most upstanding citizens would have been crushed long ago. Second, the MSM has no stake in correcting anything or acting with any modicum of integrity -- the opposite drives them in fact. MSM has exactly no incentive to report on their bad reporting.

[DMM1029]

Does anyone really think the neo-fascists would have settled if they didn't think they were going to get nuked at trial?

Dave McGlaughli­n-Harrisbu­rg, Pa.

[Vinca]

To DMM1029: I totally agree with you

[CheneysACoward]

Person of interest just like Richard Jewell was......hung out and screwed by Justice when they had NO case at all. Guilt by Propaganda, great way to run a Country.

[AmericanSinceFeb08]

Good for Mr. Hatfield. What about the governor from Alabama and Ms. Plame?

This administration (DOJ, FBI) has ruined their lives.

Innocent until ..... This administration morals are beyond believe. We are a county of laws...

[hnahme]

Government by innuendo. I think that this leaking of presumed guilt must stop and that every governmental agency, local, state and federal should be held responsibly if and when they wrongly accuse anyone.

[mamacat]

If Mr. Hatfill is due this, then what is Ms. Valerie Plame due?

[Forest]

Clever paycheck.

[Jezreel]

Wow. I'm so glad to hear about this settlement. Mr. Hatfill deserves more. Unfortunately, the money will never e able to repair the damage done to his reputation -both personal and professional. I remember this story well. I also remember thinking at the time that Mr. Hatfill was being scapegoated by the government. I'm very glad to hear that he's won this case.

[grn1]

If he was scapegoated and the strain of anthrax was from Fort Dietrich, does that mean the government was responsible and we as taxpayers afforded the settlement and others deaths?

[KQuarksSuperKollider]

Good for him. In todays world being wrongly convicted in the media is almost as bad as being convicted in court. I cannot imagine what he had to go through in his professional career and personal life because he was wrongly floated to the media as a suspect in the anthrax cases.

BTW that fact that the person(s) responsible for the Anthrax were never brought to justice was another huge failing of the B ush justice department. If B ush and company had put half the effort into investigating this case and prosecuting terror suspects as they did with politicizing the justice department we might have some of these terrorists in jail. I suspect the Anthrax terrorist(s) were right wingers that will rear their ugly heads again if 0bama is elected president. Everyone seems to forget that the worse terrorists in this country before 9/11 were all right wing a-holes.

[heal57]

I am delighted that Dr. Hatfield has won a settlement. It should have been more. I remember when this happened and John Ashcroft called Dr. Hatfield a person of interest. What???? There was absolutely no evidence at all. This guy could not get a job, and I saw his face when reporters were surrounding him and I knew he had nothing to do with the anthrax. They wrote about him maliciously. He was treated disgracefully. I remember it well. Just because they don't have any idea who was responsible, they figured; hey he worked at the infectious disease lab, it must be him! Duh!!!

[watchTVgetSTUPID]

Years ago the BBC reported the Anthrax attacks were traced back to our own Administration. They were reporting what a famous investigator had said in public ... that the perptrator(s) were tracable to the Administration but it was not possible to know which one. The investigator was famous for his role in cracking he Unibomber case. He was a hand writing analysis expert and he had more than just the fact that the strain of Anthrax was traced to the US government stockpiles.

At the time the Bush Administration openly acknowledged it came from within but claimed it must have been an overzealous loose cannon. Bush further clarified that such an Anthrax attack was not official policy. Also at the time Hatley supporters claimed he was made the fall guy in order to deflect attention from the real perptrator(s) within the Administration.

This court ruling will make it hard for people to get to the truth because any open questioning of anyone's involvement opens up a $5 million dollar lawsuit. The net result is similar to the Scooter court ruling and Bush's partial aquittal. The partial aquittal took Scooter Libby off the hook yet still left him with a legal excuse for not talking.

[heal57]

What are you saying? Hatfield had nothing to do with the anthrax scare and John Ashcroft and the DOJ ruined his life. This is nothing like the Scooter Libby case. Hatfield was totally innocent and has a right to collect on his lawsuit. He should have got more money for what was done to him. America, wake up; 'they' can listen to your phone calls, check your google and aol accounts and just come up with a total fabricated phoney case against you with no real evidence like they did with Dr. Hatfield.

[KQuarksSuperKollider]

It was definitely perpetrated by right wing nuts and most of the right wing nuts I know work in the B ush administration.