Flight 11 stewardess' kin to sue American Airlines

WASHINGTON – Relatives of a flight attendant who may have been knifed to death by hijackers aboard American Airlines Flight 11 "no longer trust" the carrier to tell them the truth about what happened to her, and have retained lawyers to investigate and sue American for negligence, WorldNetDaily has learned.

The planned litigation would mark the first lawsuit filed against an airline by relatives of a crewmember slain in the Sept. 11 hijackings.

"It nags them that they do not know what the actual real fate of their loved one was," said a member of the law firm of Baum Hedlund Aristei Guilford & Schiavo, which is handling the case. "They no longer trust American Airlines to tell them the truth."

He says the family wants "answers" more than money.
"They also want to know who's at fault," he said.
"Who's accountable for security lapses?"

The unique case – led by Baum Hedlund partner Mary F. Schiavo, a former Transportation Department inspector general – is one of several new Sept. 11 lawsuits the Los Angeles firm, which also has offices here, is preparing to file over the next few weeks. The personal-injury firm, which specializes in major accidents, already represents 32 families of passengers killed in the hijackings.

The Baum Hedlund source would not name the slain American flight attendant, but says her sister has information indicating she was murdered by hijackers in a struggle aboard Flight 11, which hit Tower One after leaving Boston.

From accounts of a chilling phone call made from the plane, hijackers slit the throats of two flight attendants who tried to bar them from entering the cockpit, as WorldNetDaily first reported late Sept. 11.

Madeline Amy Sweeney, in a frantic conversation with her American supervisor, Michael Woodward, on the ground at Logan International Airport, identified the slain attendants by their crew numbers.

Head flight attendant Karen Martin was one of the brave women who tried to protect the pilots. The other has yet to be publicly named, and American has withheld information from relatives seeking confirmation, the law firm source says.

He says Shiavo plans to ask for Woodward's original notes of his conversation with Sweeney, which apparently was not recorded, as part of discovery in the case.

American spokesman John Hotard says he does not know where the original notes are.

"I've never seen them. I don't know if they went to the FBI, or if a copy went to the FBI," he said in a recent WorldNetDaily interview. "But the FBI got a hold of them very quickly, and wrote a summary."

A confidential Federal Aviation Administration executive summary of the hijackings, written Sept. 11, mentions two crew members being stabbed, but then goes on to detail the shooting of a passenger – naming both the hijacker, who allegedly fired a single shot, and the victim, as WorldNetDaily also first reported.

Families members have complained to lawyers that the FBI has been as tight-lipped as American with information.

"The FBI has not been forthcoming," the Baum Hedlund source said.

He says Shiavo also plans to depose Woodward.

WorldNetDaily has learned that the American flight-services manager has not returned to work after taking extended leave last year. Woodward is still so traumatized by the horrific phone call from Sweeney that he won't take phone calls to his Boston-area home even from concerned fellow employees, a colleague says.

Lawyers also will seek a tape recording of a phone call from another American flight attendant aboard the doomed plane – Betty Ong – who called the carrier's system operation control center at its Fort Worth headquarters. Ong, who spoke with an American manager on duty that morning, apparently corroborated what Sweeney reported.

The other flight attendants aboard Flight 11 were Sara Low, Barbara Arestegui, Jean Roger, Dianne Snyder, Kathleen Nicosia and Jeffrey Collman.

Roger's father, Tom Roger, is vice president of Families of September 11 Inc.

Saudi plaintiffs hit 100

That organization is leading a class-action wrongful-death suit against members of the Saudi royal family and Saudi banks, as well as Islamic charities, that allegedly helped finance al-Qaida terrorists and their operations.

The group has hired noted Washington investigator Terry Lenzner to gather proof to back its claims.

"Under every stone we turn, we find more evidence of major Saudi fund-raising for the terrorists," said Stephen Push, founder of Families of September 11.

Push, whose wife died in the American Airlines Flight 77 hijacking here, says lawyers retained by the group have lined up some 100 plaintiffs.

They plan to file their suit in U.S. District Court here, not an international court. He says Saudi royals are not protected by "foreign sovereignty," because the deaths occurred in the U.S.

Push, in a WorldNetDaily interview, also said: "We're pretty confident we can collect if we win a judgment," explaining that the court can seize Saudi-owned real estate and other financial assets in America.

"If they start moving assets during our litigation," he said, "we'll seek a restraining order to stop them."

Push argues that the Saudis would be loath not to cooperate with the court in paying a judgment, given their desire to maintain good public relations with the U.S. government.

Previous stories:

Terrorists slit throats of 2 AA stewardesses

FBI memo: Hijacker shot Flight 11 passenger

9-11 families to sue Saudis

Related column:

Suing Saudi for 9-11?