The family of a Quebec man who died when his light plane crashed into a telecommunications tower is being sued for $2.5 million by the tower's owner.

"I don't know what to do, I just don't know," said Francoise Jolin-Paquette.

Her husband Gilbert, 38, crashed his single-engine plane into the tower back on April 27, 2001. He was flying in dense fog.

The accident occurred near Notre-Dame-du-Mont-Carmel, about 125 kilometres southwest of Quebec City.

For five days, his body and the plane's tangled wreck hung in the 320-metre high tower because the structure wasn't strong enough to support a rescue crew.

Eventually, the tower was brought down with dynamite. Only then was Gilbert's body recovered.

Three days before the legal deadline to sue, the papers came from the U.S. company that now owns the tower.

Francoise now has 11 days left to decide whether to defend the action or declare bankruptcy.

North Carolina-based SpectraSite Tower Inc. wants more than $2.5 million from the family.

The damages are to cover the tower's destruction, the cost of rebuilding it and lost revenue.

Because he flew in fog, Paquette is responsible, the company alleges.

However, the costs the company is alleging could be at issue. For example, the cost of demolishing the tower was estimated in 2001 to be $182,000. Now the company thinks it should be reimbursed $1.3 million.

Near the rebuilt tower, people are shocked.

"It's very harsh," one man said in French. "Companies have to be poor to sue a family that has already lost so much."

SpectraSite hasn't been doing well financially in recent years, having sought bankruptcy protection in 2002 and emerging from it last year. The company and its lawyers have refused to comment.

But Paquette's widow and children say they don't have the money; Gilbert's insurance was only for a million dollars.

One legal expert said SpectraSite is within its rights.

"A person does not end his liabilities through death," said Julius Grey. "Our whole securities system would collapse if debt ended with death."

For Paquette's family, however, that lawsuit means they will be reliving a nightmare for years as the case makes its way through the courts.

With a report from CTV's Genevieve Beauchemin