Jury says SDG&E negligent in helicopter crash

A jury has found San Diego Gas & Electric negligent in the deaths of four Marines who were killed when their helicopter hit an unlit utility tower on Camp Pendleton in 2004.

Jurors awarded more than $55 million in damages in a wrongful-death lawsuit brought by the families of the Marines.

The jury found the utility failed to install safety lights to prevent accidents and that two of SDG&E's representatives acted with malice by not ordering the installation of lights or markers on the tower.

The jury first determined that the parents of all four Marines should receive $2.125 million in damages. Jurors also found the wife of one the Marines, 1st Lt. Michael S. Lawlor, was entitled to $6.7 million.

After hearing more testimony Wednesday afternoon in the trial's punitive damages phase, the jury awarded another $10.1 million to the families of each Marine.

The accident occurred Jan. 22, 2004, when two helicopter crews were practicing nighttime maneuvers. The crews were using night-vision goggles.

During the trial, attorneys for the families told jurors the accident would not have happened if lights or other markers had been installed on the tower. They said the utility company was negligent for operating under a policy where lights were only used on structures 200-feet or higher, even though company officials knew most collisions occurred at lower altitudes.

But attorneys for SDG&E argued the crash was a result of pilot error, not negligence. They told the jurors that Marines involved in the training knew the area and had been briefed about the power lines.