Ex-Marine awarded $91,000 for training injury

By: TERI FIGUEROA - Staff Writer
Former Pfc. Jesse Klingler sued company that provided realistic combat training scenarios | Wednesday, December 12, 2007 7:13 PM PST ∞

A jury this week awarded $91,000 to a former Marine for injuries suffered when he was bound, gagged and shot at close range with blank ammunition while forced to undergo a simulated interrogation during a military training exercise.

It's far less than the $250,000 that the private company that ran the training exercise had offered former Pfc. Jesse Klingler to settle out of court before trial.

And Klingler will only get about $56,000, because the jury only laid a quarter of the monetary responsibility for Klingler's pain and suffering on the private company.

The panel concluded that the Marine Corps was 75 percent to blame for the 2004 injury that ended Klingler's military career after a training scenario went awry. The military was not a party to the case and does not have to pay.

"We were disappointed," Klingler attorney Bob Gaglione said Wednesday of the jury's Tuesday verdict. Gaglione said he may consider filing an appeal.

At the start of the trial, Gaglione had asked the jury to award his client well over $1 million.

Klingler, 21, sued Stu Segall Productions Inc., which runs a motion picture and TV studio in San Diego, as well as another Stu Segall company known as Strategic Operations Inc., which creates realistic training scenarios for the military.

Klingler's suit also targeted actor Ali Mohammad "Rocky" Mohsen, who played the role of the enemy interrogator. Mohsen pressed an AK-47 to Klingler's upper knee and shot him with blank ammunition during the training exercise at Miramar Marine Corps Air Base on Sept. 18, 2004.

Even though the gun fired blanks, the high-intensity burst of gas injured Klingler. He required two surgeries and was discharged from the Marine Corps.

Segall will have to pay $44,000 of Klingler's medical bills and lost wages, and an additional $11,750 for pain and suffering.

Segall's attorney Mike Neil called the verdict "a huge loss" for Klingler, who will see his net award dwindle much further. Because the jury award was less than the settlement offer, Klingler will have to pay Segall's legal bills -- which could wipe out the rest of the award.

At trial, Neil pointed the finger at the Marines who, in an impromptu move, forced Klingler to act as a war prisoner as punishment for a critical mistake the young man made during the training exercise.

Neil told the jury Klingler committed "a cardinal sin" when he left his gun behind as he chased an enemy fighter during the training exercise.

It was the Marines who bound and gagged Klingler and asked actor Mohsen to "interrogate" him, Neil said.

Gaglione said his case suffered because jurors did not hear from Marine witnesses, many of whom were on deployment or otherwise unavailable to testify.

Klingler was not allowed to sue the military, Gaglione said, adding that his position is that the Marines were not at fault.

"The training was good training. It was poorly executed by the corporate defendants," Gaglione said.

-- Contact staff writer Teri Figueroa at (760) 631-6624 or tfigueroa@nctimes.com.

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