City to Pay $2 Million to Family of Boy Killed in Blast

The San Diego City Council on Tuesday agreed to pay part of a $5-million settlement in a lawsuit filed by the family of an 8-year-old boy killed in 1983 when an artillery shell exploded in a Tierrasanta canyon.

The city’s $2.06-million share of the settlement may be the largest personal injury claim ever paid by the city, said Gene Gordon, the city’s chief deputy city attorney.

“In the area of personal injury, it is certainly one of the highest and probably is the largest that we can recall,” Gordon said after the council voted in closed session Tuesday to pay the damages.

The family of Corey Alden Peake will also receive $2.84 million from Christiana Companies Inc., which developed the former Marine Corps artillery range into housing, and $100,000 from VTN Southwest Inc., a civil engineering firm that did survey work there. The developers agreed to spend $1 million of the settlement to purchase an annuity that will spread out payments to Corey’s mother and her three surviving children over many years, said Daniel Bacalski, Christiana’s attorney.

Fourth Defendant

A fourth defendant, Ponderosa Homes, did not participate in the settlement, Bacalski said. Douglas Butz, attorney for Ponderosa, could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

Corey was one of two 8-year-old boys killed after six children playing “fort” in a Tierrasanta canyon found the 37-millimeter anti-tank shell in December, 1983.

They examined the shell, tossed it in the bushes, retrieved it for another look, and banged it on a rock. The shell exploded, instantly killing Corey and the other boy, Matthew Smith. Corey’s 12-year-old brother, Carl, was injured by the blast.

A major contention in the lawsuit was that the emotional strain of the incident contributed to the death of Corey’s father, who died a month after the accident of cancer that had been in remission, the Peakes’ lawyer, Vincent Bartolotta, has said. Bartolotta could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

A lawsuit filed by Smith’s family against the same four defendants is scheduled to go to trial March 1.

Bacalski said that Christiana is not admitting guilt by agreeing to the settlement and plans to file suit against the federal government, which was responsible for Camp Elliott, a 43-square-mile Marine Corps base during World War II.

“The real culpable party is the federal government,” Bacalski said. “They put the stuff out there for many, many years. They knew it was out there. They allegedly cleaned it up, and they didn’t do that right.

City Ponders Suit

“We plan to bring suit against them because we think they’re the ones that are at fault. They’re the only one with the wherewithal to clean it up,” Bacalski added.

The Peake family tried the same tactic, but in October a U.S. District Court judge ruled that the federal government was immune from a lawsuit on the matter. On the same day, he also dismissed a suit filed by Christiana as premature.

Gordon said that the city is evaluating whether a suit against the federal government has any chance of success.

After the boys’ deaths in 1983, a Navy ordnance team swept the area and found more than 100 rounds of ammunitions, most of it live. As recently as last month, a World War II artillery shell was found in Tierrasanta by a construction worker.