An FDNY firefighter has won a $2.5 million settlement for 9/11-linked cancer in a highly unusual suit against the city, The Post has learned.
Brian Kevan, who came down with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in 2019, sued the city instead of filing a claim with the federal Victim Compensation Fund (VCF) like nearly all ailing 9/11 responders in the last decade.
Besides his cash award, Kevan, 53, hails another stroke of fortune: He underwent a life-saving bone marrow transplant in November, after doctors found a matching donor, an anonymous 25-year-old.
“Whoever this person is gave me an amazing gift,” said Kevan, who had battled his aggressive cancer for nearly three years without luck.
The Brooklyn firefighter, assigned to Engine 221, raced to the smoking pile of rubble after the Twin Towers fell to dig for survivors and remains. He worked at the toxic site for months.
The cancer forced Kevan to retire in 2019, but he doesn’t complain, saying “343 guys didn’t go home that day,” a reference to the firefighters killed on 9/11. “I got 20 years.”
Kevan said he plans to start a foundation to raise funds for others with crippling diseases.
“That’s my goal in life,” he said. “I can’t just ride into the sunset or go to a beach somewhere with my feet in the sand.”
The $2.5 million payment, which includes lawyer fees, came from an entity set up with federal funds to defend the city against lawsuits stemming from the World Trade Center cleanup.
That entity, the WTC Captive Insurance Co., started with $1 billion granted by Congress after 9/11. It was used to pay $700 million in a 2010 mass settlement with 10,000 Ground Zero responders.
Since then, the federal Victim Compensation Fund — now extended to 2090 — has been paying nearly all claims by WTC workers, downtown residents and workers, students and visitors exposed to the toxic air and dust.
In 2021 alone, the VCF awarded $9.3 billion to nearly 42,000 individuals, including many suffering from cancer, it reported.
As of Dec. 31, the WTC Captive is sitting on $305 million, records show.
Those who sue the city are barred from filing VCF claims, which made Kevan’s suit rare.
“Any city worker involved in the cleanup who comes down with cancer can bring a lawsuit,” said Gregory Cannata, an attorney who represents other 9/11 responders. “However, a lawsuit is a very time-consuming process, and there’s no guarantee that they’ll win.”
The VCF limits lawyers’ fees to 10 percent. In a lawsuit, the fees are typically 33 percent plus expenses.
Cannata’s firm recently won VCF awards of $2 million each for an NYPD cop with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, and the family of an MTA worker who died of pancreatic cancer, he said.