More than a dozen Pacific Palisades and Malibu residents are suing the city of Los Angeles, accusing the Department of Water and Electricity and others of doing more to prevent and curb massive January wildfires that destroyed homes.
All plaintiffs aged 70 or older have a list of Hollywood characters, including Holocaust survivors and former U.S. Navy pilots receiving cancer treatment.
In a complaint filed Monday night, they claimed the city should make sure the main reservoirs are filled with water and that all hydrants are running before the Palisades fire.
The Times previously reported that in the leadership of Hell on January 7, St. Ines Reservoir Already empty Months and over 1,000 fire hydrants Need repair. As the fire spread that night, dozens of fire hydrants in Palisade in the Pacific Run low on water.
The complaint also claimed that the DWP ignored emergency wind warnings and kept its electrical equipment in a fully charged area that “caused a fire or triggered a new ignition.”
“Together, all of this makes the damage the city (including DWP) can cause to the damage suffered by the clients – the loss of homes and all valuable property,” said Crystal Nix-Hines, partner at Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan. “This could have been avoided.”
A DWP spokesman declined to comment Tuesday afternoon because the city attorney’s office “has no complaints to the official.”
Several similar cases have been filed in the months since the Palisades fire killed 12 people and destroyed nearly 7,000 buildings.
So far, the plaintiff has sought only compensation for damages to the property. The city of Los Angeles has immunity to emotional distress and some other effects of the fire.
era Report in February DWP approved a three-year, $10 million contract with law firm Munger, Tolles & Olson to defend the utility from growing lawsuits.
Plaintiffs essentially claimed in the latest case that the city destroyed their property without giving them fair compensation for losses.
Complaints filed in the Los Angeles County Superior Court include several painful narratives.
A passage describes how 93-year-old Rachel Schwartz “survived the Holocaust, including the Warsaw slums, three concentration camps and a death march, arrived in Detroit with his sister in 1946.”
Schwartz moved to Los Angeles in 1960 and bought a home in Pacific Palisades 28 years ago. She lost her home and many priceless property in the fire.
Kenneth and Kristina Peterson went to Kristina in Hawaii with their two children when the fire broke out. The complaint said they “helplessly watched images of the Burning Community working over and over again on TV.”
Ken Peterson, 75, was undergoing cancer treatment at the time. A former U.S. Navy pilot whose grandfather and father served in both world wars, his memorabilia was destroyed in the fire, including “naval scholarships, ongoing meritorious service, flight lawsuits, pilot’s license and login books.”
In all the damage, a highlight, a neighbor saved Peterson’s dog before the flames consumed the house, the lawsuit says.
The involvement of multiple Malibu residents (including Peterson) is unique in the recent wave of cases.
Malibu is an independent city from Los Angeles, but the plaintiff claims that Los Angeles and its DWP’s actions and inaction before the fire broke out helped spread to the adjacent coastal areas.
“The city’s conscious decision to dry the reservoir is simply unforgivable,” said Jeffrey Boozell, the attorney for another plaintiff.
