February 27, 2008

Family members of 9/11 aviation disasters and Brazil's TAM crash meet to grieve together and share memorial visions

MOUNT PLEASANT, SC - Family members of victims that died in two separate aviation-related disasters, 4,750 miles apart, will unite tomorrow, Thursday, February 28, 2008 in New York City to learn how they have been dealing with their losses, as well as discuss the politicization of memorials in the aftermath of their tragedies. Eliane Mello has traveled from Brazil to see the World Trade Center site and meet with several family members that lost loved ones on September 11, 2001, including some that serve on various 9/11 memorial committees. Mello is the widow of Andrei François de Mello, a passenger who died aboard TAM Flight 3054 on July 17, 2007.

Mello has emerged as a leader among TAM Flight 3054 family members and the crash victims’ association on issues relating to the memorial’s potential design and construction at the crash site near Congonhas airport in São Paolo. She is expected to meet with Brazil’s Air Transportation Minister Nelson Jobim in March to discuss the proposed memorial and ensure that the crash site is appropriately respected as the final resting place of the TAM passengers and crew members who perished that day. Mello’s mission to create a meaningful memorial is even further a journey of personal grief, as the body of her husband, like that of many other victims, was never recovered. The crash site, just blocks away from the apartment she shared with her husband, is now sacred to Mello and many others.

On July 17, 2007, TAM Flight 3054, an Airbus A320 aircraft, crashed upon landing at São Paulo’s Congonhas airport, in what is being called Brazil’s worst air disaster. Mello’s 42-year-old husband of 15 years was onboard the flight, and was one of the 199 fatalities caused by the disaster. Many family members felt that the São Paulo mayor's initial memorial site proposal was very simple, quick and unattractive, leading Mello and others to organize and create a different and improved proposal. She asked Motley Rice attorneys to introduce her to their 9/11 family member clients who are involved with the 9/11 memorials.

Initially uncomfortable with her unsolicited leadership role, Mello decided to fly to New York to meet with 9/11 survivors to build a personal relationship with them and ask them many questions to gain the insight she believes she needs to lead the TAM crash memorial efforts. Mello is represented by Motley Rice LLC attorneys in her claims against TAM and Airbus.

About Motley Rice LLC
Motley Rice LLC is one of the nation’s largest plaintiffs’ litigation firms. Motley Rice has gained global recognition for its pioneering work on behalf of asbestos victims, the State Attorneys General in their landmark litigation against the tobacco industry, and currently serves as lead counsel in the aviation and terrorist financing litigation on behalf of the 9/11 families. The firm is proud to be able to assist in uniting these individuals to help facilitate their memorial work missions. The firm is headquartered in South Carolina and has clients in numerous U.S. states and countries around the world. For more information on Motley Rice LLC, contact attorney Don Migliori (MA, MN, RI) or Michael Elsner (NY, SC, VA) at +1 800.868.6456.