Michael Klein, the late Santa Barbara hedge-fund manager who perished in a Panama plane crash that also killed his daughter, was not responsible for her death, a jury has determined.

Klein, 37; his 13-year-old daughter, Talia; and their pilot died when their plane slammed into the side of a volcano during a fierce storm on Dec. 23, 2007. Talia Klein’s friend, Francesca “Frankie” Lewis, 12, survived the crash and was rescued after a three-day search for the wreckage and a five-hour trek to the remote crash site in rugged jungle terrain.

The chartered Cessna 172 was on a 45-minute flight to Volcan, a mountainous coffee-growing region in western Panama, when it vanished from radar. The flight originated on Islas Secas, an island resort Klein owned in the Gulf of Chiriqui.

Klein, CEO of Pacificor LLC, and the girls were expected to return to Santa Barbara on Christmas eve after a holiday weekend on Islas Secas. Both girls were seventh-graders at Crane Country Day School at the time.

Kim Klein, Klein’s ex-wife, filed a civil suit against his estate and Pacificor for the wrongful death of their daughter. Lewis’ family also sued Klein’s estate, for personal injury, but reached a settlement during the trial.

According to lawyers, a Santa Barbara Superior Court jury found that the plane’s pilot, Edwin Lasso, and his employer, charter company owner Marvin Matthews, were negligent in the crash. No damages were awarded.

Klein, who graduated from UCSB at age 17, developed and sold three high-tech companies, including eGroups Inc., the world’s largest group e-mail communication service, which was acquired by Yahoo! Inc. for $450 million in 2000. He became Pacificor’s largest investor in 1999, was elevated to CEO and president in 2001, and acquired the hedge-fund firm outright in 2002.

— Noozhawk publisher Bill Macfadyen can be reached at wmacfadyen@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk.