A federal judge has ordered the U.S. Marine Corps to pay $17.8 million for the 2008 crash of a fighter jet into a San Diego home that killed four people. U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Miller made the award at the conclusion of a non-jury trial. The Marine Corps accepted responsibility for the crash in 2008 of the F/A-18D into San Diego’s University City neighborhood. The crash claimed the lives of Don Yoon’s wife, mother-in-law and two daughters. Mr. Yoon was at work when the crash occurred.

The Marine Corps said the aircraft went down because of mechanical failure, as well as pilot and ground personnel error. The pilot ejected safely. The Corps has said that a series of mistakes ultimately led the pilot of the malfunctioning jet to bypass a coastal base and fly over neighborhoods toward an inland base. The victims were 36 year old Youngmi Lee Yoon, her daughters Grace, 15 months, and Rachel, two months; and Seokim Kim Lee, 59, who was visiting from South Korea. The judge ruled the children’s deaths robbed their father of “the comfort, companionship, society and love a young child is capable of providing to a new parent and, then, in later life.” The judge allocated nearly $10 million to Don Yoon, nearly $4 million to his father-in-law and the remainder to the father-in-law’s three adult children.

Source: Los Angeles Times