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American Morning

Talk with Carie LeMack, Who Lost Her Mother on September 11th

Aired December 21, 2001 - 08:10   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: We're going to turn now to one of the 9- 11 family members for her reaction to Kenneth Feinberg's compensation plan. Carie LeMack lost her mother on September 11th. Her mother was on one of those planes that flew into the World Trade Center. She joins us from Boston this morning. Good to see you again Carie.

CARIE LEMACK: Good morning Paula.

ZAHN: Is your family - is your family going to take part in this plan?

LEMACK: I think that we can't decide that right now because first of all, there are intern regulations and families of September 11th are a group of surviving victims and victims' families is trying to work to change some of the things that we see in the funds that Special Master Kenneth Feinberg just spoke about, that don't fit with what Congress said that they were going to do when they passed this bill on September 22nd.

ZAHN: For people who never had a chance to hear your story, why don't we describe to them the limbo you find yourself in. First of all, you're clearly not a spouse nor are you a dependent child. So where does that leave you? First of all ...

(CROSSTALK)

ZAHN: ... and you're responsible for all of your mother's debts at this point - right?

LEMACK: Yes, we are responsible - we had to shut down her company, of which she was CEO and founder. We now have a large mortgage to pay. We have a lot of financial debt that she had accumulated because she was helping to finance her company. And most of her life insurance, not all of it, but most of it did go to the investors of the company.

ZAHN: Are you ...

(CROSSTALK)

ZAHN: ... considering ...

(CROSSTALK)

LEMACK: So we are stuck in a peculiar situation.

ZAHN: Yes and as you find yourself stuck in this, as you describe it, peculiar situation, have you given any thought to being involved in any kind of litigation?

LEMACK: Right now things are pretty unclear. Obviously the regulations for this fund just came out yesterday. And I actually have to beg to differ with Mr. Feinberg's interpretation of the reason that this fund was created. On September 22nd in the aviation bailout (ph) bill, Congress did three things. One is they gave the airlines $15 billion to help them get restarted or for any losses they had had.

Secondly, they limited the liability of the airlines, and I don't know why they would limit liability of anyone if they didn't think that there was some reason why they could be liable. And thirdly, they created this fund, and in this fund, specifically for non- economic losses. They listed a whole skew of things that would be - the families would be compensated for. And as you've already said, this fund is giving about 10 percent of what a typical non-economic claim would give to any victim's family of an airline crash or terrorist crash or case.

ZAHN: But Carie, would you acknowledge this morning, then, that it does help a small portion of victims' families, but there are a number of you that don't fall in really claim (ph) categories.

LEMACK: Well if people need money right now, and they want to sign away any right they have for further - to find anyone else responsible for, then it would help them. It is unfortunate, though, that the government was willing to give $15 billion to the airlines and not even one-tenth of what is normally given to a family in this case.

ZAHN: And do you think your, through this fund being discouraged to plan litigation? You heard what Kenneth Feinberg just said - he said if the families decided to go that route, they will continue to relive the horror and if you go the way of his program, you can get cash right away and not deal with the trauma of all that.

LEMACK: The families I've spoken to, which are quite a few, have a lot of frustration with this fund. First of all, it doesn't give them a chance to find someone responsible for killing their loved one, and this is a very emotional time for us and for a lot of people, it's very important to be able to have their say in front of some judge somewhere. And from what I understand in the fund, a hearing is only granted if there's extraordinary circumstances. And I - you know Families of September 11th would beg to differ that every circumstance right now is extraordinary because everyone died in such a horrific manner.

The other points that Mr. Feinberg made aren't necessarily true in that lawyers have been offering to do any litigation for 15 percent, which is much lower than the 30 to 40 that he stated, and we don't know how long a lawsuit would take. But if it allows families to feel like they got their say, it's very important because they haven't had control of a lot of things since September 11th. ZAHN: Well we'd like to stay in touch with you and see what you ultimately will do with your family. Thank you again for joining us at ...

LEMACK: Thank you.

ZAHN: ... such a tough time.

LEMACK: Thanks Paula.

ZAHN: ... of your family's life. Have a good holiday Carie ...

LEMACK: Thank you.

ZAHN: ... as best you can. Get your mind off of all of this ...

LEMACK: We're just going to make it through.

ZAHN: Yes I bet. I'm sure that's the attitude in a - in a lot of families this year. Thank you again for your time Carie.

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