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Nancy Grace
Judge Rules Against Family of Missing Groom
Aired November 22, 2006 - 20:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
NANCY GRACE, HOST: Tonight, breaking news in the so-called missing groom case. Twenty-six-year-old George Smith disappeared off Royal Caribbean`s cruise ship Brilliance of the Seas on a dream honeymoon cruise. Tonight, his family takes a major blow in their search for answers.
Also tonight, another American family does legal battle with another exclusive resort, Sandals, after a dangerous high-speed trip ends in a crash claiming the life of a 10-year-old little girl.
First tonight, to the mystery of the so-called missing groom.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My brother, George, was 26 years old when he was murdered on a Royal Caribbean cruise ship, the Brilliance of the Seas, on July 5 of last year.
There still have been no arrests. And additionally, my brother`s murderers have had one full year of freedom that they should never have been allowed to have.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Good evening, everybody. I`m Nancy Grace. I want to thank you for being with us tonight. Out to investigative reporter Pat Lalama. Pat, bring us up to date.
PAT LALAMA, INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER: OK, Nancy, here`s the deal. Basically, the judge said no dice. What this family did was file a complaint saying, Look, we are caused great emotional distress because we don`t feel you did enough to protect our son. We feel you tried to cover it up and basically turned your back on us. What the judge said was, Sorry, there`s no legal basis in your complaint.
But Nancy, they do have two options. They can either refile it with that judge or they can go to an appellate court. So we`ll have to see what they decide.
GRACE: Let`s go out to the lawyers, Ray Giudice, Renee Rockwell. First of all, what is the legal basis of the family`s complaint, Ray Giudice?
RAY GIUDICE, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Well, it looks to me like they`re alleging, as was just said, that the failure of the cruise company to properly investigate and report this matter in a timely basis to the right authorities has caused them emotional distress. I think there`s a very difficult hurdle when they can`t prove that the cruise company did anything negligent to cause the death. There`s no nexus between those two activities. If they had some evidence, it would have been in this lawsuit and this lawsuit might still be there.
GRACE: Just because a judge says so, Ray Giudice, doesn`t make it so.
GIUDICE: Nancy, if this...
GRACE: Yes?
GIUDICE: If this ruling is based on the facts, rather than the law, an appellate court is generally going to uphold the trial court`s finding of fact unless he wrongfully applied it to the law. They`ve got a very, very uphill battle.
GRACE: You know, I think you`re right about an appellate court reversing being an uphill battle. But back to you, Pat Lalama. Let`s talk about the cruise ship actions immediately following George Smith going missing.
LALAMA: All right. Well, the contention on the part of the family is that they waited too long, that they went into the room and basically mucked up a crime scene. I mean, we all know, anyone who has to deal with the law at all, you don`t touch anything, you leave it alone. They knew about blood on the awning and painted over it or washed it off, and that they went to the wrong authorities and didn`t call American authorities fast enough, and basically, didn`t tell anybody about the truth about it and didn`t do what they -- what the due diligence of reporting this crime.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: The legal counsel with Royal Caribbean, Eileen O`Connor. Ms. O`Connor, thank you for being with us. Why was the cruise line so intent on cleaning the one cabin? You know, there`s got to be 1,000 cabins. Why did they have to make the deadline for the next group of people coming in?
EILEEN O`CONNOR, ROYAL CARIBBEAN LEGAL COUNSEL: Well, actually, Nancy, we actually didn`t clean the cabin for at least another six days, at the end of the cruise. We kept it sealed, in fact, and off limits. And this was after the Turkish police had been there, done a full forensic investigation -- photographs, fingerprints, blood samples. They took, in fact, evidence from that cabin, throughout the day, when Jennifer Hagel Smith was off being interviewed by Turkish authorities, before anything of hers was removed. They cleared that had crime scene. They told us it could be cleaned.
But you know what, Nancy? We didn`t clean it. In fact, we still kept it off limits. We kept it off limits and we allowed the FBI to come on board in Greece, and they looked at it. They thought the Turkish authorities, who they`d been in touch with throughout this investigation -- and that is the proper procedure -- they were in touch with them as what they were doing. They said they did a good job. We`re OK with this. And then at the end of the cruise, we were in touch with them the entire time, we said, We`re going to clean the cabin again at the end, and they said OK. I mean, the FBI -- we informed them, and they said, We understand. This was a released crime scene, Nancy, and we did nothing. Even after the Turks released it, we still kept it sealed.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Well, as I recall it -- out to Mike Brooks, former D.C. cop and former fed with the FBI. Mike, they actually sent someone in to take photos of the room. They sent someone in to take possessions out of the room before the room was processed. A little girl that was walking by with a fun camera, one of those instant cameras, noticed an extensive amount of blood on an awning and started taking pictures of it with her fun camera. There you go. Now, that`s a fun picture from a fun camera! They hadn`t even found it.
MIKE BROOKS, FORMER D.C. POLICE, SERVED ON FBI TERRORISM TASK FORCE: Without that evidence, I mean, what do they have? They have absolutely nothing. You know, I mean, that`s -- the blood on the awning would tell you a lot!
GRACE: You just reminded me of something. And also, as I recall the facts -- Pat Lalama, jump in if I`m wrong -- he went missing. The family didn`t even find out about it for so many hours, it was virtually impossible to go back and determine where he had gone overboard.
LALAMA: Well, if you`re talking to me, Nancy, it does -- it does seem that way. And the worst of it all is that there is no body. What`s happened to the four young men who were hanging around with him? I mean, it must be so distressing for this family because they can`t tell at what point he went over. You`re absolutely right. What are you, supposed to, like, you know, sail the Aegean Sea, trying to figure out where he might have dropped off? And so it just seems like it may be negligence, but the judge said no.
GRACE: Back out to you, Renee Rockwell. The cause of action.
RENEE ROCKWELL, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Nancy, don`t forget we have a situation where we had the wife, who filed -- or who had a potential claim. She has settled her claim. Now you have the family, and I don`t think this is a situation where the family wants money. Nancy, they`re trying to get into court, file a lawsuit because they want answers. This is not a family that`s trying to get rich off of this. They want answers. Therefore, they filed this lawsuit.
Unfortunately, they got kicked out of court. But had they been able to prevail, they could have deposed the wife, deposed anybody that may have seen these other individuals. It`s a real hard burden when you have a situation where the cruise ship controls the crime scene, they control the witnesses, they control the captain. The captain`s gone now. So I don`t know that they`re going to get any satisfaction. And what`s going on now with the family? The wife`s on this side, the family`s on this side. They`re not even talking to each other.
GRACE: Take a listen to what the family had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We just went into disbelief. We just thought it can`t happen. We just thought he`s somewhere else on the ship. We just thought, you know, maybe he`s in, you know, in a deck chair somewhere. We just -- disbelief. It was just disbelief.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It`s physically impossible for someone to go over that railing without some assistance. On my balcony, they actually came up to chest height and there`s no way that you can fall over, particularly if you`re drunk. The first thing that gives when you`re drunk are your legs.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Out to John Holloway, maritime attorney. John, thanks for being with us. Doubt the judge was right in throwing out this case? Why not at least take it to a jury?
JOHN HOLLOWAY, MARITIME ATTORNEY: Well, based on the evidence that was presented to the court, which was the allegations in the complaint, it appeared that there was not enough factual evidence of the sort of thing you need to have in order to prove intentional infliction of emotional distress. To prevail, the plaintiff needs to prove more than simple negligence but has to show that Royal Caribbean acted with -- outrageously, egregiously, indeed, so atrociously that it falls outside the bounds of civilized behavior.
GRACE: You know, the missing groom case is not the first time an American has met with ill fate on a cruise ship. Take a listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My family reported (INAUDIBLE) my family at 7:20 PM. Eleven-and-a-half hours after my parents were reported missing, the cabin housekeeping attendant reported to the captain that he saw my parents at 8:45 PM. So during all that time, they were searching the wrong place in this big, big, vast ocean. They were clueless. They didn`t talk to everybody, apparently. You know, they were more focused on planning the next day`s shore activities and seeing Martine (ph), which is a replacement for Aruba, than protecting crucial information and evidence pertaining to two of the missing passengers, our parents.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In my opinion, the current system is broke and desperately needs reform to ensure the safety of passengers on cruise ships. Unless something is changed in the current regulations, the cruise line industry will be able to treat the next family as we were treated. God save the next family.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: At 4:00 AM, I woke up. Startled that she hadn`t come back, I jumped out of bed. And in my pajamas, I ran down the hall to security. It took about an hour to get everyone moving on finding my daughter, but after giving them a first name of the girl that she was with, it seemed that they only knocked on one door before finding my daughter. She came out of the room, rubbing her swollen, puffy eyes. I was very angry with her but believed that she had just fallen asleep. I asked her what had happened, and she was very defensive. She was overreacting to my questions, but at that time, I had no suspicion that a rape had just occurred.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Hearing the stories of other alleged victims on the high sea, American citizens victimized.
Back out to John Holloway, maritime attorney. When you hear story after story after story of alleged victims on the high seas on extravagant, luxurious cruise ship vacations, doesn`t it give you cause for concern in the George Smith case?
HOLLOWAY: Well, cruise lines are going to be subject to negligence liability, if they`ve been negligent. And in this particular case, remember, this is not a case that`s arising out of the wrongful death of Mr. Smith, but it is one -- a far step removed from that in that these are other people asserting emotional distress. And legally, the general maritime law just simply doesn`t permit that kind of recovery, although it does permit recovery for a wrongful death or any kind of injury caused by negligence.
GRACE: You know, Pat Lalama, by the time that the family had been notified, this ship had gone on to another port.
LALAMA: Right.
GRACE: There`s no way to go back to determine where George Smith may have been thrown overboard.
LALAMA: Right.
GRACE: Also if you recall, Pat Lalama, all of the passengers had been released. They were gone. It was almost impossible. It`s like herding cats to get them all back together again to ask them questions.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Why did Royal Caribbean allow people to leave that ship without questioning them?
O`CONNOR: Because, understand, Nancy, that the ship was docked at 6:00 AM. People were allowed to leave at 6:39. The blood on the canopy was not seen or discovered until 8:30 in the morning. At that point, they immediately looked at the sea pass system to see who had left the ship and who was still on board and who might be missing. And in that situation, they looked at the cabins above this canopy and they zeroed in, as well. on the Smith cabin and went -- they were actually originally...
GRACE: Well, I guess...
O`CONNOR: ... we thought, three passengers missing.
GRACE: Let me rephrase. Let me rephrase, judge. I mean, why did people, material witnesses that heard the loud thud coming from Smith`s cabin, that heard voices raised, apparently in anger, why were they released at the end of the cruise without being questioned? "Current Affair" had to go find them and bring them to the FBI!
O`CONNOR: We had interviewed and pointed out passengers to be interviewed, and the Turkish authorities actually did do some interviews.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: So let`s us go over the facts that night when George went missing. Explain.
LALAMA: All right. Here`s what we know. He was with approximately four young men. There were people in the next cabin who alleged that they heard what appeared to be thumps, what appeared to be fighting.
But going back to what you just said, Nancy, those people were never really thoroughly interrogated. And in fact, there were allegations that they made a sex tape with young girls, but nothing ever went -- nothing ever happened. It was later that they got thrown off the ship, I think in Italy. So why weren`t these people held? Why wasn`t there right then and there a search for those four men who spent time with him?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My brother, George, was 26 years old when he was murdered on a Royal Caribbean cruise ship.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They should not have the option to do what they feel. There has to be laws out there that make Royal Caribbean and the other cruise lines follow a set pattern of what is done when a person goes missing and possibly murdered.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Jennifer Hagel Smith was found at 4:30 in the hallway, further down the hallway from my brother`s cabin. And three crew members, from their own statements, went back down the hallway to see if my brother was there, and he was not in the room. They entered the room. You know, they obviously must have turned on the light, looked for my brother, did not notice the blood in the cabin, ignored the fact that there had been complaints on both sides of my brother`s cabin, and then got Jennifer and returned her to the cabin in a wheelchair, with no concern about where my brother was.
Really, they should have realized that a crime had been committed in that room at 4:45 or 4:30 in the morning, not 8:30 in the morning, when they saw the blood on the overhang.
O`CONNOR: It was not noticeable. And let me be clear, Nancy. When we found her, the cleaning staff found her, they called security, who came down, and they called the medical staff. And the medical staff said, Well, just try to wake her up. And they did and she did wake up. They said she said, I`m OK. And they said, Well, you know, let`s go see if there`s someone who can escort you back to the cabin. So they actually went to the cabin then, looked in, there was no one there.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: The unsolved case of the so-called missing groom, 26-year-old George Smith goes on a lavish honeymoon vacation through the Mediterranean with his new bride. After a night of drinking and partying, the next day, he is gone, no trace of him other than this blood ever seen again.
Tonight, we report a stunning blow for the George Smith family, their civil suit against Royal Caribbean cruise line thrown out of court.
To psychoanalyst Dr. Bethany Marshall. Bethany, in this particular case, I believe this legal setback to the family is almost a mortal blow.
BETHANY MARSHALL, PSYCHOANALYST: Yes. It is a mortal blow, but I think they have to find ways to cope with the loss, regardless of what happens in the legal system. I mean, look what`s happened to Jennifer Hagel Smith. Bree Smith`s family has basically cut her off because she`s left, she`s established a new life. She took a settlement, apparently. But she is entitled to leave. She`s entitled to have a new life. She`s entitled to remarry, if she wants.
GRACE: Agreed.
MARSHALL: And no legal settlement is going to change any of that, so they have to move on with their grief process regardless of what happens in the court.
GRACE: To Mike Brooks. Let`s just be honest and coldly analyze what can be done now, if anything, to solve the case.
BROOKS: Well, Nancy, the FBI -- this is still an open investigation with the FBI. They have polygraphed Jennifer, his wife, and she passed the polygraph. There`s -- you know, they have to go with what evidence they do have, which is not very much. You know, this case -- they have no body. They also had interviewed the person who actually saw him last, who brought -- walked him back to his hotel room because there was an alleged sexual assault on board that ship, and the FBI did interview that guy about that alleged sexual assault, as well as the disappearance of Mr. Smith.
GRACE: Well, before we go down that avenue of this alleged sexual assault that really doesn`t involve George Smith, although the alleged perp may be involved -- long story short, I disagree with you, Mike, because there are still witnesses from that night. They`re still out there and they`re here in America.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: ... next-door neighbors that heard the thud, the next-door neighbors that heard the angry voices raised. I mean, these are material witnesses.
O`CONNOR: In fact -- in fact...
GRACE: They told -- they said on air they had not been questioned by the cruise line, nor by the FBI.
O`CONNOR: We had other witnesses who did report those noises. But understand, too, the thud noise was not reported until after the blood was discovered on the canopy.
GRACE: Well, maybe that`s because those people weren`t questioned, Eileen!
O`CONNOR: They were -- we did question them throughout that day, in fact, as we were trying to find if we could figure out where he might have gone overboard. So in fact, they were questioned throughout the day.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I lost my husband, George, during our honeymoon cruise last summer on July 5. We believe he was murdered on his honeymoon with a lifetime of happiness and a promising future ahead of him.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We keep going because we`re searching for justice for George.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We have to find out what happened to George, and it will not go unsolved.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: George was an excellent swimmer. He could have -- 15 miles I think he could have made with no problem.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He was in good shape when he left that ship. He could have survived.
GRACE: But what about the blood?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, that`s why we probably think he couldn`t have done.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My mother says she looks at the back door and waits for him to come in.
GRACE: It`s hard not to think of George in this house, filled with so many memories.
That`s from the wedding.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That`s the wedding, yes.
GRACE: Including the photos the family shared with me of George and Jennifer Smith`s wedding on June 25 in Newport, Rhode Island.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We have never seen him so happy in his life. He was so thrilled. They were madly in love.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: The case of the so-called missing groom still unsolved. And tonight, we report stunning blow for the George Smith family. Their case against Brilliance of the Seas, the Caribbean -- Royal Caribbean cruise line, thrown out of court.
I want to go out to Dr. Holly Phillips. Doctor, if his remains were found now, after having been in the ocean for so long, the salt water, what would we expect to find? And could you determine any cause of death?
DR. HOLLY PHILLIPS, INTERNIST: You know, it`s just so difficult to say, Nancy. It`s been quite some time that he would have been out there. I would imagine the body would be terribly deteriorated by this point. I wouldn`t really hang my hat on a cause of death coming out of that.
GRACE: And out to psychoanalyst Dr. Bethany Marshall. Bethany, for the family to have suffered the loss, but heaped upon that, not to really know what happened. As Bree, his sister said, her mom still expects him at the end of the day to walk in the door.
BETHANY: You know, this is kind of an unpopular thing to say, but on some level, I believe they do know. I mean, they know he was probably horribly treated, beaten, thrown over the boat either alive or in a semi- conscious state or perhaps dead. And that is what they do know. And they may keep hoping that they`ll find one magic thing that will make them feel better, but there is no magic thing. They have to cope with what they know now. That is the only way to move on. And that -- getting a settlement in a court of law will help, but they have to deal with what they know in the present.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GRACE: Do Americans stand a chance in courts overseas? Another American family does legal battle with another exclusive resort on another island. This time, Jamaica. The resort, Sandals, after a dangerous high- speed trip ends in a crash, a crash that claimed the life of a beautiful 10-year-old little girl in the fifth grade.
Out to Eben Brown, WFLA Radio reporter, what happened, Eben?
EBEN BROWN, NEWSRADIO 970 WFLA: Good evening, Nancy. This began when a family from Connecticut flew to Montego Bay on the island of Jamaica, then to take a car ride over to their resort, the Sandals Resort at Boscobel. The ride was perilous, it turns out, according to the reports from the rest of the family. The driver, who raced down the road, dodging in and out of traffic, eventually had a horrible accident, where not only was he killed but also this 10-year-old girl, Erin Babineau.
GRACE: We`re showing you shots of the vehicle there. It`s very hard to imagine this little girl caught in that mangled metal.
Out to Pat Lalama, investigative reporter, Sandals is a very exclusive resort. That costs a lot of money to go there. I`m a little surprised Sandals itself, when somebody stays there, doesn`t provide a trip from the airport to the resort, Pat.
LALAMA: Here`s how it goes. And I`ve gone through the entire complaint, and it`s heart-wrenching, let me tell you. I`m taking this one personally. What happens is Sandals farms a lot of its work out, so to speak, to other companies that it owns, for instance, something called Unique Vacations which is, in this case, the one that this family chose.
Now, what it did in that contract, when this family, the Babineaus, sat down and said, "All right, we`re going to go on your vacation," with the parent company Sandals, Unique says, "Oh, by the way, don`t worry about any transportation from the airport to your hotel. We take care of all of that. You don`t have to worry."
And it`s considered in the contract -- it says "worry free." It`s safe, because there is a history -- I`ve experienced this. I`ve been to Jamaica. I was scared for my life traveling to my hotel. I know this to be a fact. Everyone knows -- the make jokes about it -- about how the drivers are. And what it says in the complaint is: You, Sandals, you, Unique, you knew who you were choosing, you knew the guy was unlicensed and reckless, and you didn`t do anything about it. And this is considered a breach of contract suit, because the contract the family signed said, "We`ll get you there, and we`ll get you there safely."
GRACE: Let`s unchain the lawyers. Joining us, Ray Giudice, Renee Rockwell. I think we can all agree that we studied agency law in law school. Ray Giudice, you know, when a resort such as Sandals or anyone hires another or entrusts another to do a job for them on a routine basis, a routine basis, it forms what is called under the law "agency." Explain.
GIUDICE: That`s right, Nancy. That`s what this lawsuit is about, is this cab company, this van company, an independent contractor or an agent of the defendant, Sandals? If it`s an agency relationship, then Sandals assumes responsibility for their negligence, and Sandals has its own responsibility for failing to supervise the drivers, failing to train the drivers, failing to oversee the drivers. That`s the hurdle that the plaintiffs have to overcome. The defense will argue they`re independent contractors. "We hire them. They`re not our problem."
GRACE: Are we going to be able to try the case in the U.S.? But hold on. Before we get into wrangling over the law, let`s take a listen to what this little girl`s parents had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Our family life has been thrown into turmoil, because we`d already set goals for the future, my husband and I. We had plans to do so much. We`re not able to do anything as a family right now because there`s too much of a void. Her room has remained exactly the way it was when she left, and I just feel like our lives just stopped when she passed. There are so many things we just can`t do anymore.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Joining us here in our New York studios tonight, the parents of little Erin, Jeff and Donna Babineau. Thank you for being with us.
JEFF BABINEAU, PARENT OF LITTLE GIRL KILLED IN ACCIDENT: Thank you.
DONNA BABINEAU, PARENT OF LITTLE GIRL KILLED IN ACCIDENT: Thank you.
GRACE: The trip was a real family celebration. When were you going? What was it all about?
D. BABINEAU: We planned on going in February of 2005. It was going to be a family vacation to paradise.
GRACE: Did you guys take a vacation every year?
D. BABINEAU: We did, yes.
GRACE: Always to where, the beach, what?
D. BABINEAU: We went to the beach. We`ve gone all over the country.
GRACE: Was she excited?
D. BABINEAU: Very excited.
GRACE: What happened on that drive? What do you recall?
D. BABINEAU: When we arrived in Jamaica, after a series of airport delays, a Sandals representative directed us to the van, in which we stepped into, and we were driving down a desolate road. And he was driving very fast, very aggressively. And Jeff and I both said to him, pleaded to him to slow down. And his comment to us was, "This is how we drive in Jamaica, and don`t tell me how to do my job because I don`t tell you how to do yours." And he was overtaking...
GRACE: So you actually told him to slow down?
D. BABINEAU: Yes, several times.
J. BABINEAU: I even told him -- I said, "I have my family in the car." And he didn`t listen.
D. BABINEAU: He didn`t listen, and he was overtaking cars. He was driving in the wrong lane.
GRACE: What time of the day or night was it?
J. BABINEAU: We got -- all the delays, we ended up getting to Montego Bay at about 3:00 in the morning.
GRACE: So it was pitch dark?
J. BABINEAU: You couldn`t see anything.
GRACE: Totally out of your element, even if you had wanted to, no way.
J. BABINEAU: Yes.
GRACE: Well, if I would have said, "OK, I`m getting out of the car. If you won`t slow down, I`m getting out," and then you end up on the side of a dirt road?
D. BABINEAU: Exactly.
J. BABINEAU: We had been up since Saturday the previous day. We were over 24-hour delays from the time we woke up, so it was just a horrendous trip.
GRACE: What happened then?
J. BABINEAU: Well, he tried to -- again, he wouldn`t be -- can`t say this enough -- they drive on the left-hand side, and he kept swerving over to the right, and he finally just went head-on into a large dump truck. And it was just...
D. BABINEAU: Erin was sitting behind the driver, and the driver was killed. And Erin sustained serious head trauma from which she died two days later.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
D. BABINEAU: Erin just loved being with the family; that`s what she loved. She loved to just be with us. That`s all that mattered. She was our child that couldn`t get close enough. She was so loving. She just loved to be held, loved the affection, loved to be kissed, just loved being with us.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(NEWSBREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
D. BABINEAU: Rachel and Erin were best friends. Erin looked up to Rachel. It was a three-year age difference, but everything Rachel did, Erin did. At home, they laughed together. They played together. And they always said they were going to be best friends for the rest of their lives. They were going to be each other`s maid of honor at their weddings and had all kinds of plans for their future, because they knew that, you know, their friends would come and go, but sisters would be sisters forever.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: It was meant to be a dream vacation for an American family, a trip to Jamaica, but a high-speed trip from the airport to an exclusive resort, your lawsuit, what do you hope to gain?
J. BABINEAU: Well, we want to bring awareness to people about Jamaica, and the driving, and the hazards that are there that people just don`t know about.
GRACE: What`s amazing to me is you kept asking the guy, telling the guy to slow down, 3:00 in the morning.
J. BABINEAU: Yes.
GRACE: You`re suing here in America.
J. BABINEAU: Yes.
GRACE: Did Sandals ever acknowledge that they had any role in this whatsoever?
J. BABINEAU: No.
D. BABINEAU: No, they have not.
GRACE: Nothing? We were talking about what happened that night. How has this affected your other children? There are two siblings, right?
J. BABINEAU: Yes, yes, Rachel and Corey. And I said from day one, I said the worst nightmare is they saw it happen. And, you know, day by day, I just hope they, you know, go on and remember her for what she was, not what happened.
GRACE: Where were they positioned in the car in relation to Erin? Did they actually see what happened to her?
J. BABINEAU: Oh, yes, yes, they were right -- Corey was next to Donna, and Rachel was in the back of the van. And when we got out of the van, we pulled her out. And actually, we used our cell phones to illuminate because it was so dark. You couldn`t see anything. It was the way -- we didn`t know what was wrong with her at first, and then we illuminated, and then we actually saw the injuries.
GRACE: What were her injuries?
J. BABINEAU: Her head took the whole impact. And she had a massive contusion on her skull, and basically her brain was coming out, so -- and they saw it.
GRACE: She died instantly?
J. BABINEAU: Yes.
GRACE: Do you feel that she felt suffering before?
J. BABINEAU: No, no.
D. BABINEAU: No.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
D. BABINEAU: Erin`s personality, she enjoyed life. She was loving. She loved everything. She didn`t hate anyone ever. I don`t think I ever hear the word come out of her mouth, you know, "I hate so and so" or this and that. It just was not her style. She was -- you know, had her fun side, she was goofy, you know? She laughed. She actually laughed, actually smiled. She`s a happy kid. She`s just a happy, happy, happy kid.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Your lawsuit is based in Florida, correct, where they are incorporated and doing business?
J. BABINEAU: Correct, correct.
GRACE: Out to the lawyers, Renee Rockwell, Ray Giudice, what are the pitfalls of suing a giant like Sandals? This is a huge corporation.
GIUDICE: Well, there`s ups and downs to it. From the plaintiff`s side, you know, they`ve got to get good lawyers. I`ve read their complaint. I think they`re being well-advised legally. But Sandals is going to come on with a high-priced, well-heeled defense team. They`re going to litigate this case through discovery and file what`s call a motion for summary judgment asking the judge to take Sandals out of the case and that they`re not responsible for the acts of the driver and the driver`s employer.
GRACE: What made you pick Sandals?
J. BABINEAU: Just the name recognition.
GRACE: Yes, I`ve heard of it. I`ve never been to a Sandals resort.
J. BABINEAU: Brochure looked great, and name recognition.
GRACE: Every time you open the Sunday paper, there it is in the travel area, there`s this beautiful ad. And you think that`s going to happen to you out by the sun and the water, and it`s lovely.
J. BABINEAU: Yes. Exactly. That`s exactly what we thought.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
D. BABINEAU: She always used to say, "Ma, you know, I don`t want you to get older. I want to live with you forever." She used to say that. She never wanted to leave us.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Here are shots of Jamaica and the intended dream vacation this family had planned. Out to Dr. Holly Phillips, internist. Dr. Phillips, how does the body initially react to the injuries Erin sustained? What I`m getting at is, how did she survive for two days?
PHILLIPS: Sure, this is such a terrible story, and really my heart goes out to this family. You know, a blunt or a lacerating head injury, at 70 miles an hour, it would be nothing short of a miracle to survive. Basically, the brain would begin to swell. There`s hemorrhage, and then eventually that...
GRACE: But during all that, she would not have felt anything.
PHILLIPS: Certainly not. You know, she was likely unconscious from the moment of impact, and I highly doubt she felt anything for the duration of her life.
GRACE: Here in the studio with me, Jeff and Donna Babineau. I`m seeing from this home video you brought us this little girl did it all. I`ve seen gymnastic video, ballet video. I know she played the piano, softball. Am I missing anything? Quite a little superstar. Look at this. Was this her favorite thing here?
D. BABINEAU: Gymnastics was her favorite sport, yes.
GRACE: She looks like she`s doing a floor routine.
J. BABINEAU: Floor routine, yes.
D. BABINEAU: She was a competitive gymnast.
GRACE: Did she do pretty well? Look at that.
J. BABINEAU: Yes, she was awesome.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
J. BABINEAU: She was so petite. And when she would go to these competitions, she would be against girls that were twice as tall as her and twice as old. And you see her on a balance beam and not fall. And she was exceptional. Yes, I mean at her age and the levels, she was one that you would say is a shining star.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Look at her up on the beam. Look at that. How often did she practice? How many hours did she put in to be -- I cannot even imagine being on this beam. Forget it.
D. BABINEAU: Nine hours a week.
GRACE: I would be clinging on for dear life. Look at this, everyone. As far as a hero, 10 years old, competitive gymnast, star pitcher. She donated organs and helped to save two lives.
J. BABINEAU: Yes.
GRACE: Does that give you any comfort? Or does it hurt you even to think about that?
D. BABINEAU: At the time, we needed some comfort, and we knew that Erin was such a giving person, that it`s what she would have wanted, so it was an easy decision to make.
GRACE: This is something the family brought to me tonight. What is this?
(CROSSTALK)
D. BABINEAU: Well, the town, the softball league she played in actually fixed the field for her and dedicated it in her memory. And they made t-shirts up for everyone at the dedication, which had about 600 people from our town.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GRACE: Thank you to all of our guests, especially to the Babineaus, and to you, for being with us. A special goodnight tonight from the New York control room. Goodnight, everybody, Liz, Chris, Rosie. NANCY GRACE signing off for tonight. See you here tomorrow night, 8:00 sharp Eastern. And until then, goodnight, friend.
END
