WTC OFFICIAL DENIED N.Y. BENEFITS:

A New York court denied workers’ compensation benefits for a World Trade Center official who rushed from home on Sept. 11, 2001, to help rescue victims of the terrorist attack, saying he was ineligible because he had not been ordered to the scene. The Appellate Division of state Supreme Court ruled against Christopher Duff’s claims for psychological injuries. “The man was the property manager for the World Trade Center,” said one of Duff’s attorneys, Robert Grey. “We don’t understand the finding that he was not in the course of his employment.” Duff was property manager for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, the government agency that owns the trade center site. He had permission to be home the morning of the attack, Grey said. After learning one of the towers had been hit, Duff traveled to the site and saw the second tower fall. “Breathing in dust and smoke, he ran for his life and later became physically ill. He then returned every day throughout the following week, as a volunteer, to assist in the rescue efforts,” the decision said. But, the appeals panel added, Duff conceded his employer had not asked him to go to the site.