"Airline Sticking It To 9/11 Kin"

Sunday, May 23, 2004

AIRLINE STICKING IT TO 9/11 KIN 
By SUSAN EDELMAN 
The New York (NY) Post

 
Outraged 9/11 relatives are threatening to boycott American Airlines
after its lawyers asked a judge to dismiss negligence lawsuits against
the carrier - and make the victims' families pay its legal fees.
 
"I think everybody should boycott American Airlines," said Rosemary
Dillard, whose husband, Eddie, died on Flight 77, which terrorists
crashed into the Pentagon. 

"How can they have the audacity to ask the families to pay their
attorneys' fees?" 

The company's lawyers filed new papers in Manhattan federal court this
month in response to a series of lawsuits alleging the airline failed to
prevent the Sept. 11, 2001, hijackings. 

The airline contends the case should be tossed out because the deaths
were caused by "an act of war," and because critical evidence consists
of "state secrets" and "sensitive security information." 

The airline "respectfully" requests that the case be dismissed "with
costs, attorneys' fees, disbursements and other such relief." 

Mike Danatos, whose brother-in-law, Brian Martineau, was killed at Aon
Corp. in the World Trade Center, said the airlines skimped on security
to fatten profits. 

"Now corporate greed has reached new heights of indecency," he said. 

American Airlines spokesman Tim Wagner said, "This is only standard
legal language commonly filed by attorneys across the country in answer
to complaints."


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