LOS ANGELES -- A federal judge has awarded $4.1 million in damages to the families of three men killed in the 1986 collision of an Aeromexico jetliner and a small plane over Cerritos, attorneys said Monday.
The largest single award, $1.8 million, went to the widow and three children of Manuel Guzman, 59, a construction company foreman, attorney James McCarthy said.
The wife and the three children of a second victim -- Gregorio John Huerta, 46, an accountant who lived in Los Angeles -- received $1.3 million, while the wife and two children of Tom Basye, a truck driver who lived in Hesperia, received $1 million, McCarthy said.
U.S. District Judge Manuel Real granted the awards late Friday following a two-day hearing.
Earlier this year, a San Jose man received $1.3 million in damages for the death of his wife and son in the crash, and the family of a Norwalk truck driver received $2.7 million -- the largest single award yet to arise from the disaster.
A federal jury determined in April 1989 that the Federal Aviation Administration and the pilot of the small plane were equally responsible for the crash.
As a result of that decision, the federal government is expected to pay out between $50 million and $100 million in damages to survivors of victims.
The estate of William K. Kramer, 53, the pilot of the aircraft that clipped the tail section of the jetliner triggering the crash, is liable for remaining damages. However, since Kramer's $1.2-million estate is expected to be rapidly depleted, outstanding 'economic damage' claims will be paid by taxpayers, attorneys said.
McCarthy said that as a result, the families in the three cases decided Friday can expect to receive $2.4 million, the amount the government is required to pay. In addition to that sum, the funeral expenses of the three victims will also be paid by the government.
The three men were part of a larger party returning home from a fishing trip in Mexico when they died in the crash. The Guzman and Basye families were neighbors in Hesperia, McCarthy said.
The crash was the worst aviation disaster in Los Angeles history. It occurred when Kramer's Piper Archer collided with the tail of the Aeromexico DC-9, which was on final approach to Los Angeles International Airport on Aug. 31, 1986.
Eighty-two people died -- all 64 people aboard the jet; Kramer, his wife and daughter in the plane with him; and 15 people on the ground.
