The lawyer for Entercom Communication Corp. and its Sacramento subsidiary argued forcefully Wednesday that his clients weren't responsible for Jennifer Lea Strange's death. But he offered jurors a fallback number on damages just in case they disagree with him.

If the seven-man, five-woman jury finds the defendants liable for Strange's death in a radio station water drinking contest, attorney Donald W. Carlson told the panel that a $4.5 million award would present a "reasonable compensation" for the woman's survivors.

Over the past two days, plaintiffs' attorneys representing Strange's husband and three children asked jurors to award their clients damages in the $34 million to $44.3 million range.

"I don't know where those numbers come from, because there is no explanation," Carlson told the jury in his closing arguments. Maybe, he said, the plaintiffs came up with eight-figure numbers "so anything I might suggest would be offending by being too small."

Plaintiffs' lawyers are scheduled to conclude their rebuttal arguments today in the wrongful-death trial under way in Sacramento Superior Court. Judge Lloyd A. Phillips is then expected to instruct the jury and send it into deliberations.

Former UC Davis School of Law Dean Rex R. Perschbacher said that in presenting the different award figures, the lawyers appear to be "negotiating in front of the jury."

"They're attempting to set the range of possible recoveries," Perschbacher said.

The ex-dean said it is not uncommon for defense attorneys such as Carlson to argue that their clients are not liable while at the same time giving the jury a lower damage estimate.

He said "it strikes me that the defense believes there's some significant chance that the plaintiffs are going to recover" damages in the case.

Strange, 28, died of acute water intoxication Jan. 12, 2007, in the "Hold Your Wee for a Wii" contest put on by the Entercom-owned radio station KDND "The End" 107.9. The contest offered a Nintendo video game to the participant who could drink the most water without going to the bathroom or throwing up.

Plaintiffs' lawyers argued that Philadelphia-based Entercom failed to train its employees at its Entercom Sacramento LLC subsidiary, that the local employees violated the company's policies and that the regional managers failed to rein in the "Morning Rave" crew despite warnings from the station's promotions director.

Carlson admitted that top officials in Entercom Sacramento LLC made "serious, tragic mistakes." But he argued that Strange's death was not foreseeable. Neither the station executives nor the on-air talent could have known that anybody might die in a water-drinking contest, Carlson said.

The contestants "made a decision to get into the contest," Carlson said, were never "force fed" anything and had the opportunity to quit.

"It was a matter of personal choice who participated," Carlson said.

If there was any culpability in Strange's death, Carlson told jurors, a portion of the responsibility resulted from the "contributory negligence" of the woman herself. Strange, he said, "knew there was a possibility of vomiting" and "could observe that herself" during the course of the contest in which some participants were forced out after they threw up.

Carlson told the jury that "knowing what we know now" and listening to the broadcast of the day Strange died, "it sounds horrible." But he said "the truth is that no one understood the harm at that time."

The attorney blamed KDND station manager Steve Weed and promotions director Robin Pechota for allowing the contest to go forward, in violation of what he said were clear and reasonable guidelines laid down by the corporation's legal team in Boston.

"It wasn't as if these people were right off the street," Carlson said, noting that Weed had 40 years in the business and 30 years in management and that Pechota had a 20-year career.

Still, Carlson said the managers' transgressions shouldn't make the Entercom parent liable. He said the judge's instructions will point out that the corporation and its subsidiary have to be viewed separately by the jury.

Call The Bee's Andy Furillo, (916) 321-1141.