Man Awarded $1.3 Million in Jet Crash

The first of dozens of wrongful death suits filed in the 1986 crash of an Aeromexico jetliner in Cerritos after a midair collision concluded in Los Angeles Federal Court on Wednesday with the award of more than $1.3 million in damages to a San Jose man whose wife and son were killed.

After a two-day hearing, U.S. District Judge Dickran Tevrizian ruled that Raul Leanos was entitled to $1,362,921 in the deaths of his wife, Elva, 42, and son, Raul, 13, in a crash that killed 82 people in the air and on the ground on Aug. 31, 1986.

Elva Leanos and her son were returning from visiting relatives in Mexico aboard Aeromexico Flight 498, which was approaching Los Angeles International Airport shortly before noon, when the airliner was struck by a small plane.

“It’s been 3 1/2 years since the crash and finally cases are starting to get tried,” said Los Angeles attorney Robert Stone, who represented Leanos. “My client is relieved that he’s finally been able to have his day in court.”

If other federal judges follow the pattern of Tevrizian’s award, plaintiff attorneys have estimated that it could eventually cost the U.S. government between $50 million and $100 million in damage judgments.

The question of who was liable for the Cerritos crash was answered by jurors in April last year when they found in a Los Angeles trial that the Federal Aviation Administration and small plane pilot William K. Kramer, 53, were equally responsible.

Aeromexico was absolved of any blame for the accident.

Unless it is upset on appeal by federal prosecutors, the jury’s liability verdict means that the U.S. government and Kramer’s estate each must pay half of any damage awards. In practice, however, Kramer’s $1.2-million estate would soon be depleted, leaving only the deep pockets of the taxpayers.

What Tevrizian’s judgment seemed to mean to Leanos is that the San Jose man can expect to collect $762,921 from the federal government for the death of his wife and son.

It was unclear Wednesday whether the government might appeal the damage award to Leanos.

But Stone said he understands federal attorneys are planning to appeal the jury verdict in last year’s liability trial. U.S. Department of Justice Atty. Steven J. Riegel, who represented the federal government in the liability case, declined comment Wednesday.