Jurors Award $3.2M in Deadly Calif. Mudslide Lawsuit

Jurors have recommended $3.2 million in damages to be paid to a church whose mountain retreat was located where a 2003 mudslide killed 14 people in California.

A jury found the California Department of Transportation partly responsible for the slide that tore through a church camp in San Bernardino County’s Waterman Canyon where families were celebrating Christmas Day.

The Los Angeles Times reported that jurors recommended the economic damages be paid to St. Sophia Greek Orthodox Church and Foundation in a second verdict.

Superior Court Judge Brian McCarville will rule whether the transportation department should pay their share of all damages or just the economic ones. A hearing is scheduled next month.

Survivors and victims’ families sued the church after the slide. The church settled the lawsuit in 2008 for $13 million.