Survivors of 3 in Air Crash Are Awarded $4 Million

The families of three fishing buddies who died in the Aeromexico jetliner disaster in Cerritos in 1986 have been awarded a combined $4 million by a Los Angeles federal court judge, but it may be a while before they see any money, according to lawyers in the case.

The monetary judgments, handed down individually late last week by U.S. District Judge Manuel Real, were the most recent among about half a dozen awarded so far in the midair collision that claimed 82 lives.

An earlier jury ruling found the Federal Aviation Administration and William K. Kramer, the pilot of the small plane that collided with the jetliner, equally responsible for the crash. Aeromexico was found blameless.

As a result of that ruling, the U.S. government and Kramer’s estate are each liable for half of the damage awards. Attorneys for the claimants, however, do not expect Kramer’s $1.2-million estate to cover much of the expected multimillion-dollar damage claims.

And the courts have ruled that while the government can be called on to make up the difference for economic losses suffered by a family in a wrongful-death suit, the government is liable only for its percentage of fault--in this case 50%--in the non-economic losses category, which includes pain and suffering or loss of relations with one’s spouse or parent.

In the case of Manuel Guzman, for instance, a pipe fitter for the Southern California Gas Co., Real awarded his wife of 36 years about $243,000 for economic losses, including the loss of her mate’s future wages. Guzman’s widow was also awarded $1.1 million in non-economic losses. The couple’s three grown children were each awarded $125,000 in non-economic losses.

James J. McCarthy, the Century City lawyer representing the Guzman family as well as the survivors of John Huerta and Tom Basye in last week’s awards, said that in practicality this means that the families will receive only half of the non-economic awards.

McCarthy added that the families expressed relief at Real’s rulings, which brought to a resolution nearly four years of legal proceedings. But he added that the families “won’t receive the ultimate relief until they are actually paid, and that hasn’t happened yet.”

If the government appeals their cases--it has appealed every other Cerritos crash case--the delays may continue indefinitely, he said.

Meanwhile, McCarthy as well as Justice Department officials pointed out that settlement negotiations continue between claimants and government attorneys in an attempt to avoid protracted and costly court battles. More than a dozen claimants have settled out of court, according to the Justice Department, but about 66 wrongful-death lawsuits remain.

The government is “trying harder to negotiate settlements and is becoming more realistic (in its offers) as more cases are tried,” McCarthy said. The lawyer noted that, initially, the government was offering claimants only about one-third of what the courts have since awarded them.

“There may be a lot of (out-of-court) settlements before this is over,” McCarthy said.

Last week’s damage awards also included $117,000 in economic losses and $850,000 in non-economic losses to the widow of Huerta, a La Habra accountant who was 46 when he died. The court also awarded $100,000 to each of the couple’s three grown children.

Basye’s widow was awarded $232,000 in economic losses and $700,000 in non-economic losses. The couple’s daughter was awarded $150,000 and Basye’s son by a previous marriage was awarded $10,000.

Basye, 47 when he died, had been a neighbor of Guzman’s in Hesperia, where the two men built their own homes, McCarthy said. Those two men, Huerta and a few others, including Guzman’s brother, Joseph, were returning from a fishing trip to Baja California when they died in the crash, the attorney said.