SOUTHLAND : Air Crash Award $2.7 Million
A federal judge today awarded more than $2.7 million to the family of a Norwalk truck driver and his son, both of whom died in the 1986 crash of an Aeromexico jet in Cerritos.
U.S. District Judge Manuel L. Real ruled that the family of Joe Guzman, 45, and his 18-year-old son Robert were entitled to $2,733,666 in compensation for their economic and personal losses.
Guzman and his son, along with an uncle and some friends, were returning from a fishing vacation in Baja when the jet collided in midair with a small private plane and crashed on Aug. 31, killing 82 people in the air and on the ground.
Included in today’s award was $427,254 for Robert Guzman’s now 5-year-old daughter, Reann.
The 1 1/2-day hearing before Real was the second of dozens of damage trials set to be heard in Los Angeles federal court. In the first case, a different judge awarded a San Jose man who lost his wife and son in the crash about $1.3 million.
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