Family of Crash Victim Is Awarded $2.8 Million : Lawsuit: Mother of three was killed when other driver suffered a seizure. Driver’s doctor and estate must pay.

The family of an El Toro woman killed while driving her three children to church was awarded more than $2.8 million Wednesday, about half of which must be paid by the other driver’s doctor for failing to warn authorities his diabetic patient could black out behind the wheel.

The May 1993 crash outside El Toro Marine Corps Air Station also killed John Paul Renzi, who had suffered a diabetic seizure and swerved out of control, hitting head-on the car driven by Cynthia Nickless, lawyers in the case said.

Following a months-long trial in Orange County Superior Court, a jury found that Renzi’s estate was liable for about half the damages. Jurors assigned the other half of the blame to a doctor who had been treating the 43-year-old engineer for a serious diabetic condition.

Brian D. Witzer, who represented the Nickless family, said Renzi’s diabetes had become “life-threatening,” making him a “walking time bomb.” He alleged the doctor had failed to notify state authorities, as required, that Renzi suffered from a condition that might cause him to black out behind the wheel.

Before the damage verdict was even reached, the physician agreed to pay $1.9 million to the surviving families. Under that settlement, the parties agree not to release the doctor’s name.

Renzi’s insurance policy will cover a significant portion of the damages against his estate, which did not contest responsibility for the accident, according to attorneys.

David Brobeck, a lawyer representing the estate, called the verdict a fair one in a “very sad case.”

Nickless, 35, who lived on the base with her children and husband, a Marine lieutenant, was driving her daughters to church after stopping for lunch when the crash occurred on Sand Canyon Road.

Both drivers died instantly. The children, now 4, 8 and 11, suffered serious head injuries and broken bones.

Money from the verdict will go into a special trust fund for the children to pay “their future medical needs as well as their college education,” Witzer said.

Renzi, of Trabuco Canyon, is survived by a wife and three sons.