The James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act

Who was James Zadroga?

James Zadroga grew up in North Arlington, New Jersey, where his father served as the town's police chief. He joined the New York City Police Department in 1992 and was promoted to detective in 1999.

After September 11, 2001, he was assigned to the World Trade Center site, where he worked hundreds of hours on rescue, recovery, and cleanup. He developed severe respiratory illness and retired on disability in 2004.

Zadroga died on January 5, 2006, at age 34. A New Jersey medical examiner attributed his death to his work at Ground Zero.

His case became the reference point in the campaign for federal 9/11 health legislation. When Congress passed that legislation in 2010, it named the law for him.

Has the Zadroga Act been renewed?

Yes. Congress has amended the law three times since 2011, and the two programs it created were extended on separate tracks.

In December 2015, one Public Law carried two separately titled provisions. Title III, the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Reauthorization Act, authorized the WTC Health Program through October 1, 2090.

Title IV, the James Zadroga 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund Reauthorization Act, extended the fund by five years, allowing claims to be filed through December 18, 2020. It also created the framework that grouped claims by filing date.

In July 2019, the Never Forget the Heroes Act replaced that deadline and set the VCF claim filing deadline at October 1, 2090.

In February 2026, a further law set the WTC Health Program's funding formula through fiscal year 2040. Authorization and funding are separate questions, and they run to different dates. The program is authorized through 2090, its funding is settled through 2040, and Congress will need to act again on funding before then.

Do you need a lawyer for a Zadroga Act claim?

Most claimants use one. The VCF reported in its 2023 Annual Report that approximately 86% of claimants are represented by an attorney, and the fund publishes separate guidance and claim-quality reporting for law firms because of it.

Nothing requires representation, and both programs accept claims filed directly. What representation changes is who carries the work, from enrollment through to any appeal.

A claim moves through several stages, and our firm handles each of them:

• Enrolling the client in the WTC Health Program and tracking the condition through certification, or through the Private Physician Process where an exception applies.
• Completing and filing every form each program requires, in the order it requires them.
• Communicating with the WTC Health Program and the VCF on the client's behalf, and resolving problems as they surface rather than after a decision issues.
• Assembling proof of presence, certification, and economic loss into one claim, so that it reflects the full loss the statute allows.
• Amending a claim when a further condition is certified, and appealing a decision where there are grounds to.

In our practice, the step that stalls a claim most often is the Missing Information Letter. It is a routine request for additional evidence rather than a sign of denial, but it carries a response deadline, and the VCF can deny a claim when that deadline passes.

Proving presence is the other common gap. Employment records from 2001 and 2002 are often gone, and presence then has to be rebuilt from leases, pay stubs, school records, or sworn affidavits from people who were there.

Attorney fees in a VCF claim are capped at 10% by federal statute. The cap is a ceiling rather than a set rate, and the fee is paid from an award, so representation carries no out-of-pocket cost.

Enrollment and filing are set out step by step in our guide to filing a 9/11 claim. For anyone deciding whether to handle a claim alone, a case review is the appropriate next step.