Jurors concluded their sixth day of deliberations without a verdict Friday in the "Hold Your Wee for a Wii" wrongful death trial.
The panel is scheduled back Monday to resume deliberations in the case filed over Jennifer Lea Strange's death that resulted from a water-drinking contest put on by radio station KDND "The End" 107.9.
In what could be a very favorable signal to the plaintiffs who are asking for tens of millions in damages, jurors in the case on Tuesday asked for and received a 10-digit adding machine to help them through their deliberations.
The jury had asked Sacramento Superior Court Judge Lloyd A. Phillips for an Excel computer program. Phillips denied the request, but he did provide the seven men and five women on the jury with a pad of paper and a calculator, according to the court's minute orders.
Apparently not satisfied, jurors then asked for the 10-digit adding machine, and the judge rounded one up for them.
"I think it means they're thinking about damages," said McGeorge School of Law professor Lawrence C. Levine. "They must have decided on liability and now they're playing with very big numbers."
Plaintiffs are asking for an award in the range of $34 million to $44.3 million.
On Friday, the jury also asked for replays of KDND's "Morning Rave" show for sound clips that featured the program DJs' conversations with Strange, the 28-year-old woman who died on Jan. 12, 2007, of acute water intoxication as a result of her participation in the contest.
The lawyer for the defendants, the Philadelphia-based broadcasting company, Entercom Communications Corp., and its local subsidiary, Entercom Sacramento LLC, argued to the jury that Strange's "contributory negligence" factored into her death. If there is any liability in the case, they argued, she must share a portion of it.
Levine figured the contributory negligence issue was at play in Friday's replays.
"They're thinking about her conduct, and that could mean some sort of a reduction based on comparative fault," said Levine, an expert on California tort law.
Lawyers in the case have been barred from talking to the news media as a result of a gag order issued by Phillips at the request of Entercom attorney Donald W. Carlson.
Call The Bee's Andy Furillo, (916) 321-1141.
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