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Amtrak Employee Sues Railroad; Poll: Rate Hike Coming in September; Pope Francis on the Importance of Family. Aired 7:30-8a ET

Aired May 15, 2015 - 07:30   ET

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


(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Amtrak Dispatcher Bruce Phillips is believed to be the first crash victim to file a lawsuit against his employer after Train 188. Phillips was in the rear of the train commuting back to New York and his injuries are reportedly extensive including traumatic brain injuries.

Joining us now, we have Michael J. Olley and Robert Myers, they are attorneys for Amtrak employee, Bruce Phillips. Thank you for joining us, Gentlemen. What matters most is how Mr. Phillips is doing. What can you tell us?

MICHAEL J. OLLEY, ATTORNEY FOR AMTRAK EMPLOYEE BRUCE PHILLIPS: He's doing a lot better. He was released from the hospital. He does have a concussion, ongoing concussion and orthopedic and neurological injuries. But we're happy for his sake that he has been released although it looks like he will be in a long period of recovery.

CUOMO: And when you say recovery, is there hope that he will get back to 100 percent and be able to resume his normal life?

ROBERT MYERS, ATTORNEY FOR AMTRAK EMPLOYEE BRUCE PHILLIPS: well, that's unknown at this time. He's going to be going through a long rehabilitation process and then he still hasn't completed all diagnostic testing and been referred to various specialists. We will only know that in the future.

CUOMO: Well, please send our best to him and his family. Thank you for coming onto make the case for the case.

MYERS: We'd like to send our best to all the victims of this.

CUOMO: And this is relatively quickly after this accident for suit to be filed. Why the urgency and what is the basis for the suit?

OLLEY: The reason for that, Chris, is Mr. Phillips is an Amtrak employee. As such he does not receive or is subject to state workers compensation law. His only remedy is against his employer under what's called the Federal Employers Liability Act, which is a statute that mandates that in order for him to recover against his employer he has to prove his employer failed to provide him with a safe place to work.

During the period of time that he is unable to work he is not eligible for any kind of compensation benefits such as a regular employee would be under state compensation law.

CUOMO: And help us understand if Amtrak says, well, don't blame us it was this engineer that's why the train was going too fast, that hasn't been developed fully by the NTSB, but what is your explanation why the train was going so fast and why this lawsuit was merited?

MYERS: There's no reason why the train was going that fast. It doesn't matter whether it was a mechanical failure or the failure of the engineer. This company took all the victims of this case including the deceased are clear.

And the faster that the victims are compensated and the families of the deceased are taken care of, the easier their lives will be in the future. And we hope that this is done quickly.

And we actually hope that we just don't get an apology from Amtrak, but they come out and they establish a fund for all the victims and the victims' families to proceed with their lives not on a normal basis, but just to try to proceed with their lives going through such a tragic, horrible experience.

OLLEY: Getting back to your original question though, Chris. The code of federal regulations, Federal Railroad Administration Regulations, mandates certain speed restrictions. The fact that the train was going twice the legal limit is a violation of those regulations and would render Amtrak absolutely liable in this case.

CUOMO: Now, while it may not be significant to your client, is it important to note for people that there is actually a congressional cap put in place, I think it was 1997 they passed it that protects Amtrak $200 million as a recovery cap in a situation like this?

[07:35:13] It sounds like a big number, but you have a lot of people who are hurt here. Is that relevant?

MYERS: That's absolutely relevant. Not only are people hurt, but eight families lost precious loved ones.

CUOMO: Yes.

MYERS: And that type of cap is injurious to their rights, it will curtail their rights and we're hoping Congress will do something immediately to enlarge that cap to compensate all the victims of this horrible accident fairly.

OLLEY: We anticipate, Chris -- go ahead.

CUOMO: No, no, please. It's important to hear from you.

OLLEY: No, we anticipate that all of these claims eventually are going to be consolidated in one action, most likely in federal court in the eastern district of Pennsylvania. At that point in time the issue of the cap will be, you know, litigated along with that. So it's going to be interesting to see how all that plays out.

CUOMO: We take the point that in the case of your client because he's an Amtrak employee, he's going to have bills to pay he needs money up front because workers comp isn't going to cover on the state level. That's understood in terms of reason for urgency.

Let me ask you, do you see any relevance to the larger issue being raised about why this accident happened? The train was going too fast, maybe that will fall on the shoulders of the engineer.

But there's also the issue raised by the NTSB that if the positive train control had been in place and functioning as it's supposed to be, this wouldn't have happened regardless of what the engineer did. Is that relevant? And is it true?

MYERS: That's absolutely relevant and true. It's more than this. It's not a political question. It's not a budgetary question. The question is where do you absolutely make this corridor safe for passengers?

My family takes the train, my children and my grandchild. This is something that's serious and has to be addressed not six years ago, not four years ago, but this horrible accident shows something should have been taken care of without any political discussion or debate a long time ago.

And you remember we only have one individual that we know of in front of this train. There are two individuals in front of an airplane. I think the question should be asked why isn't there more than one individual on this locomotive?

Whether you have a failure of the engineer, failure of mechanical or electrical system, maybe there should be personnel to backup other personnel like they do on other transportation system.

CUOMO: Why you don't have a second person under control, why you don't have positive train control, why you don't even have seat belt. Certainly I will agree with you gentlemen that these are not stupid questions to be asking. Thank you for being with us. The best to your client and his family going forward -- Mich.

PEREIRA: All right, Chris, Pope Francis taking a stand in the Mideast conflict angering some Israel supporters in the process. The Vatican announcing it will recognize a Palestinian state in a new treaty. Some are questioning if that's the best way to bridge the conflict.

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[07:41:46]

PEREIRA: Here we go with CNN Money Now. Chief business correspondent, Christine Romans, is in the money center. Some interesting news about interest rates.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: You know, higher interest rates are coming, be warned here. According to a new "The Wall Street Journal" poll experts think the Federal Reserve will wait until September to begin hiking interest rates. Rates have been rock bottom for so long. You can be sure everything from credit cards to car loans to home loans are going to eventually get more expensive. Right now the average 30-year fixed rate mortgage by the way 3.85 percent. You expect that to slowly start to rise.

All right, what's the first stock everyone buys? Apple. That's according to TD Ameritrade. The first stock people buy, Apple, after Apple stocks vary by generations.

Millennial much more likely to invest in tech companies, Facebook is the second most popular stock for millenials, Tesla and Alibaba also in the top ten.

If your older than 35, which none of us are, GE is the pick.

PEREIRA: They say you invest in what you know, right?

ROMANS: You know, it's so interesting depending on your age that depends on what kind of stocks you have in your portfolio. I love it.

CUOMO: I invest in pizza and Old Spice.

ROMANS: I only invest in stocks that go up. Stocks that go up are the ones I like.

PEREIRA: Good idea. All right, Christine, thank you. Happy Friday.

CUOMO: So as you know, good friend of yours, Pope Francis coming to town to see Michaela. But also he's been making big waves in this Mideast conflict. He's making his mark on the church like no Pope before whether it's the Middle East, South America or the United States.

This time it's going to be about the families. We're going to get the Pope's perspective from the man who's going to hold the big event that brings the Pope to the U.S. right after this break.

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[07:47:14]

CUOMO: So today as you may know is the International Day of Families. And Pope Francis is going to be present in Philadelphia this September for the meeting of the families, highly anticipated this trip of course because the Pope is making huge waves in the Catholic Church. And in specific areas of the world of conflict we see with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and his taking on ideas of what it is to be a Christian like we really never heard coming out of the Vatican.

So a man who knows the Pope very well and the mission very well is Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia, president of the Pontifical Council for the Family. Archbishop, thank you for being here with us.

ARCHBISHOP VINCENZO PAGLIA, ROMAN CATHOLIC ARCHBISHOP: My pleasure to be here.

CUOMO: So, the family, what does the Catholic Church think is important to understand about the needs of the family?

PAGLIA: Yes. First of all let me tell you my sympathy and prayers for the victims of the -- and the families.

CUOMO: Of the train crash.

PAGLIA: Of the train crash and be sure that the Pope is praying for this. This is good news for all of us above all for these families. And today I am here in New York exactly for this. I was here today with some friends with your mother too.

CUOMO: I know. My mother gave a speech with you about the needs of the families at the United Nations.

PAGLIA: Exactly, exactly. In this occasion so I think that as a Catholic and the Pope will underline when he will come in September he wants to announce the gospel of family. That family is a good use for all the world, for example conflicts, but it's difficult to globalize love.

CUOMO: Difficult to globalize love, why?

PAGLIA: Why? Because we are often self-centered in ourselves, and this is the point of the importance of the family because the family is the first school to learn to stay together, but in order to be fraternal, solidarity, to help who is weak, to learn how we can continue to stay together year after year.

CUOMO: So the basic lessons of how to be human, you learn from the family and that carries over to everything else. So what is the problem with the family today?

PAGLIA: The problem is that we saw sort of a collapse --

CUOMO: A collapse.

[07:50:05] PAGLIA: -- of the family, and that's why our family in the United States and too in Europe, we saw a collapse of society, too because there is a direct link, strong family, strong society, weak family, weak society. In the sense we are as a Christian, we have to help God and Jesus, and as a Christian, we have to rediscover the dream of family.

CUOMO: So to help push the message, you are bringing the big man to America, and you know him very well, and how excited is the Pope to come to America?

PAGLIA: The first time in the United States.

CUOMO: His first time?

PAGLIA: The first time in his life so he is really, really happy. And obviously he is preparing a lot and in Cuba visited the Pope and the cold war, and that's a really great message for all humanity because he underlined the dialogue is the road to peace. CUOMO: Dialogue is the road of peace and he took it that message to Cuba and he will go to Washington, D.C. and the United Nations. He is going to go to Philadelphia. He is going to come to New York, and what does he want to see in New York?

PAGLIA: In New York, I think he will pray for the victims of the 11th of September.

CUOMO: The 9/11.

PAGLIA: And the United Nations, he will tell to all people to realize among God, one family.

CUOMO: One family will be the message?

PAGLIA: Exactly. This is the most important point because I can emphasize again, we run the risk to lose the dreams, the common dreams, and a new perspective and a new kind of way to stay together in peace. So in the sense the Pope is really an important leader and that in a certain sense, a political, too, to preach in a theoretical way. He wants to change the world.

CUOMO: Well, he has taken it on in a way we have not seen recently. Archbishop Paglia, thank you for telling us what is to come, and we look forward to it when the Holy Father is here. Send our regards, please.

We're talking about this right now, Michaela, but it will be big when he comes here in September, no matter what you believe religiously. It will be a big deal just as an event.

PEREIRA: On this international day of families, I am so glad you are my TV brother and my brother in real life, Chris.

All right, we are certainly following a lot of breaking news today. We are watching this, the U.S. military chopper that disappeared in earthquake ravaged Nepal, it has been found. We will give you the very latest on that dangerous recovery operation.

But first, on CNN's "PARTS UNKNOWN" this Sunday at 9:00, filmmaker, Daren Ornowski joins Mr. Bourdain in Madagascar. Check it out.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANTHONY BOURDAIN, CNN HOST, "PARTS UNKNOWN": I ask him who directed such films as "Pie," if you could go anywhere on earth where would you like to go? He said, Madagascar. It's simple, to know the more you look the harder you look and the more complicated it gets, two different perspectives, one place, Madagascar.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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[07:58:51]

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PEREIRA: The U.S. military helicopter that went missing in Nepal, it has been found.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Six U.S. Marines, two Nepali soldiers.

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: This Marine Corp Unit came originally from Camp Pendelton near San Diego in California.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The man responsible for driving the train.

CUOMO: He's now saying he can't remember what happened in the crash.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is way beyond what any train can be doing at any time.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A growing country with a growing economy, we need to invest in the infrastructure so we keep it that way.

REPRESENTATIVE JOHN BOEHNER: It's not about funding. The train was going twice the speed limit.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST, "THE SITUATION ROOM": Blunders for possible president candidate, Jeb Bush.

JEB BUSH: I am running for president in 2016, if I run.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Would you have authorized the invasion?

BUSH: I would have and so would have Hillary Clinton. If we are all supposed to answer hypothetical questions, I would not have gone into Iraq.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I closed my eyes at that point because I didn't know what was going to happen.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CUOMO: Good morning. Welcome to your NEW DAY. It's Friday, May 15th, 8:00 in the east. Alisyn is off. But Mich and I are here for you.

And the big story this morning is that this U.S. military helicopter that went missing in Nepal while delivering aid to earthquake survivors has been located.

PEREIRA: Nepali official now says three bodies have been found in that burned wreckage site. We begin our coverage with CNN's Will Ripley who is in Kathmandu with the breaking details for us -- Will.