Navy Shares Blame in Crash, Judge Rules

The U.S. Navy has for decades ignored the safety of pleasure boaters in Anaheim Bay and shares responsibility for a 1984 speed-boat accident that took five lives, a Los Angeles federal judge ruled Thursday.

Ticking off a list of minimal safety precautions that were not taken, U.S. District Judge James M. Ideman ruled that the government is potentially liable for half of the more than $20 million in damages being sought by survivors and relatives of the victims.

“It was too much trouble for the Navy. They didn’t bother to do it,” Ideman said. “The Navy didn’t give one thought to the safety of these pleasure boaters.”

The Seal Beach Naval Weapons Station is responsible for policing the bay. An estimated 40,000 one-way trips across the bay are made by pleasure boaters each year.

The plaintiffs claimed that the Navy was partly responsible for an accident involving a boat piloted by Virl Earles, 32, of Westminster, because it had not properly maintained or policed waters under its authority.

Earles admitted that he was operating his boat up to five times the speed limit of 5 m.p.h. in the bay and was traveling without lights on a dark night when the craft hit an unlit mooring buoy. A blood test showed that Earles’ blood alcohol content was slightly above the legal limit for an automobile driver.

In August, 1986, Earles was convicted of involuntary manslaughter in the five deaths. The jurors then made a special joint plea to the judge for mercy. Earles was sentenced to three years in prison, but is free pending appeal.

On Thursday, Ideman called Earles “extremely negligent,” finding that he “was drunk, or at least under the influence of alcohol.”

‘Absolutely Inevitable’

But the Navy, by opening the bay to pleasure boaters, must expect unskilled and sometimes dangerous boating will occur and safeguard against it, the judge said.

“If anybody had stopped for one minute to think about it, they would have known that this accident was absolutely inevitable,” he said.

Ideman’s ruling means that the Navy could end up paying half of the damages Earles can prove. Earles has claimed more than $80,000 in medical damages and lost wages as a result of the crash.

An elated Neal Hirschfeld, the Houston attorney who has led a team of five lawyers for the plaintiffs, called it a “tremendous, tremendous victory.”

“We’re extremely happy,” said Earles’ wife, Lori. “It was kind of a shock. I was told not to hope for the best--not to get my hopes up.”

Earles, a mechanic and truck driver, was unavailable for comment.

“If Virl was found at fault in killing these people,” Hirschfeld said, “then the United States government has been found equally at fault in killing them. Equally.”

U.S. Justice Department attorney Warren Schneider had urged Ideman to find that the accident was caused by Earles’ gross negligence. He had insisted that the bay was safe and declined to comment on Ideman’s criticism of the Navy.

Ideman did decide that each passenger in the boat--or their survivors--will receive only half of any award ultimately won in the next phase of the trial. Because they consented to ride with Earles, knowing that he had been drinking, their damages should be reduced by his share of the blame, the judge ruled.

Ideman also ruled that the Navy should have lighted the mooring buoy into which Earles crashed and violated its own regulations in not licensing boaters who use the bay.

The judge also found that posted speed limits were difficult if not impossible to read after dark.

“Since we haven’t received the official word, and since our attorneys haven’t conferred with each other, it makes it really difficult for me to say anything,” said Tracey Schwarze, public affairs officer for the naval weapons station.

Ideman scheduled further proceedings in April to determine how much should be awarded in damages against the Navy.

Last week, a former security guard at the weapons station testified that he had recommended lighting the buoys a year before the accident but that the Navy said there was no need. The guard made the suggestion because some boaters, confused by lights around the bay after dark, actually ran up on the beach.

Plaintiffs in the case include Earles, Terez Ujj, mother of John Bakos, 20, then of Paramount, who died in the crash; Robert Weaver and Estelle Schmidt, parents of Kathy Weaver, 24, of Long Beach, another victim; Marlene Sutton, mother of Anthony Sutton, 27, who also died; Marie Katz, mother of Ronnie Myers, 22, who died, and Roberta Huling, mother of the fifth victim, Patricia Huling, 20, then of Laguna Hills.