LOCAL : Cerritos Award: $4.1 Million
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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 today.
The largest single award, $1.8 million, went to the widow and three children of Manuel Guzman, 59, a foreman for a Colton construction company, 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 after 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.
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