SAN DIEGO – A jury awarded more than $55 million Wednesday to the families of four Marines killed in 2004 when the helicopter they were flying in struck a utility tower on Camp Pendleton.

Jurors determined that San Diego Gas & Electric, which owned the tower, was negligent and that company executives acted with malice by not seeing that safety devices, such as lights or ball markers, were installed to prevent accidents.

SDG&E's negligence was a substantial factor in causing the Marines' deaths, the jury found.

Family members of Capt. Adam E. Miller, 29; 1st Lt. Michael S. Lawlor, 26; Staff Sgt. Lori A. Privette, 27; and Cpl. Joshua D. Harris, 21, had asked for unspecified damages in the wrongful-death lawsuit filed in July 2004, about six months after the deadly crash.

The San Diego Superior Court trial, presided over by Judge David Oberholtzer, lasted about three weeks.

After deliberating about a day, the jury first determined that the parents of all four Marines should receive $2.125 million for the loss of their loved ones. Lawlor's wife was entitled to $4.5 million for the loss of her husband and $2.2 million in lost earnings, the jurors ruled.

The nine-woman, three-man panel decided that SDG&E bore 56 percent of the responsibility for the fatal collision, which occurred when two helicopter crews were conducting training exercises at night.

The pilots of each helicopter were 22 percent and 8 percent responsible, respectively. Other unnamed parties, such as the Marine Corps, were 14 percent responsible for the crash, the jury determined.

“I think the biggest thing was the fact that SDG&E knew about the hazard,” said Colleen Curtis of Clairemont, who served as the jury forewoman.

She said she believed the company failed to properly follow safety recommendations outlined by the Federal Aviation Administration. She also placed blame on Edwin Guiles, who was SDG&E's president at the time of the crash and now serves as an executive at Sempra Energy.

“The man on top is ultimately responsible,” she said.

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

In many civil cases, judges have the option of reducing large monetary awards by juries. But attorneys representing the families in this case said they were confident the verdicts would stand.

According to testimony during the trial, two helicopters participated in the nighttime maneuvers on Jan. 22, 2004 – a “low bird” that flew close to the ground and a “high bird” that flew above looking for possible obstructions.

Both crews were using night-vision goggles.

Todd Macaluso, who represented the families, said the helicopters were preparing to leave an area on the Marine base known as Talega Canyon when one struck a 135-foot utility tower.

He and attorney James Frantz argued that the collision would not have happened if the Marines had been able to see the obstacle. They said the company knew that its towers and power lines posed a danger to aircraft in the area.

“They put profit ahead of safety,” Macaluso said outside the courtroom.

He and Frantz argued that SDG&E followed a policy that called for lights and markers on structures of 200-feet or higher, even though company officials knew most collisions occurred at lower altitudes. They said the devices would have cost only a few thousand dollars for each tower.

Attorney Larry Davis, who represented the utility company, argued in court that the collision was the result of pilot error. He noted that the crash occurred outside the boundaries of the training route.

In a statement released by SDG&E, officials said they “respectfully disagreed” with the jury's verdict and planned to appeal. They said the tower had been on the property for 25 years and was properly maintained.

“The Marines knew the power lines and towers were there and, if the base commander had wanted the towers lighted, all they had to do was ask,” the statement read. “SDG&E could not have installed lights on its own, without the permission of the Marines.”

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