Kin of 2 Killed in Jet Crash Awarded $2.7 Million

A federal District Court judge in Los Angeles awarded $2.7 million Wednesday to the family of a Norwalk truck driver and his son who were killed in the 1986 collision of an Aeromexico jetliner and a small plane over Cerritos.

The wrongful-death award is twice as much as a similar award handed down last month in the first damages case stemming from the disaster, which killed 82 people. Seventy other suits are pending, according to lawyers involved in the cases.

After a two-day hearing, U.S. District Judge Manuel L. Real ruled Wednesday that Mary Guzman, 49, was entitled to $1.7 million for the death of her husband, Joseph Guzman, 45, a passenger aboard the jetliner.

Guzman’s son, 18-year-old Robert, also was killed in the crash. He and his father were returning from a fishing trip in Mexico along with an uncle and several friends who also died in the crash Aug. 31, 1986.

Real awarded $427,254 to Robert Guzman’s daughter Reann, 5, of Santa Fe Springs. He awarded $200,000 each to three of Joseph Guzman’s children.

Last month, U.S. District Judge Dickran Tevrizian awarded $1.3 million to Raul Leanos of San Jose for the death of his wife and son.

Last April, jurors in a Los Angeles trial found that the Federal Aviation Administration and the pilot of the small plane that collided with the jetliner pilot were equally responsible for the Cerritos crash. The pilot of the small plane, William K. Kramer, 53, died in the collision.

Aeromexico was absolved of any blame in the accident.

Unless a federal appeals court reverses the jury’s liability decision, the U.S. government and Kramer’s estate must pay half of any damage awards. However, Kramer’s $1.2-million estate is likely to soon be depleted and neither the Guzmans nor Leanos will recover the full amount awarded by a judge.

After the award was made Wednesday, James McCarthy, Mrs. Guzman’s lawyer, said that she, her children and her granddaughter are likely to collect about $1.7 million of the $2.7-million award because of the early depletion of Kramer’s estate.

“That’s a fair amount,” he said. “It’s substantially more than the U.S. government offered to settle the case.”

McCarthy said the next damages case is scheduled to go to trial in May.