Homes along Carbon Beach in Malibu were destroyed.
The City of Malibu filed a lawsuit February 18 in Los Angeles Superior Court against the State of California, L.A.City, the L.A. Department of Water and Power and L.A. County over the January 2025 Palisades Fire.
The City of Malibu contends that the fire killed at least six residents, wiped out about 700 homes and dozens of businesses inside city limits. With Pacific Coast Highway closed for months, the City also lost revenue and had a significant disruption to tourism, employment, and local revenue.
“This decision was not made lightly,” Malibu Mayor Bruce Silverstein said in a statement announcing the lawsuit. “The city has an obligation to act in the best interests of our residents and taxpayers. The lawsuit seeks accountability for the extraordinary losses suffered by our community while recognizing that Malibu must continue to work collaboratively with our regional partners going forward.” https://malibucity.org/DocumentCenter/View/37305/City-of-Malibu-Legal-Action-Palisades-Fire-Losses-2172026
The popular Moonshadows Restaurant along Pacific Coast Highway burned during the Palisades Fire.
In the complaint, it notes that “the Palisades Fire was not an accident, an Act of God, or permissive firefighting.. . .rather the fire was a foreseeable and proximate result of the unlawful conduct of Defendant State of California, operated by the California Department of Parks and Recreation (collectively “the State”), that harbored a dangerous condition on State-owned land where the Palisades Fire was allowed to ignite. Shockingly, the State elevated rare plants over human lives in failing to inspect and address the dangerous burn scar from the Lachman Fire that ignited just days before on its own land – its smoldering embers remaining clearly visible to anyone who cared to look.”
Other agencies named in the 66-page lawsuit includes the Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority, the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy and L.A. County Waterworks District 29 (a division of L.A. County Public Works.
The suit points out that after the November 13, 2024, Fire next to the empty Santa Ynez Reservoir “LADWP should have refilled the Santa Ynez Reservoir and ensured that adequate water was available for firefighting in the Pacific Palisades. Instead, it consciously chose to leave a risky and clearly inadequate water supply system in place.”
The suit notes that on “January 6, 2025, the NWS in Los Angeles issued its most severe fire weather warning – “LIFE-THREATENING & DESTRUCTIVE WINDSTORM!!!” – for several areas, including the area that the Palisades Fire would eventually ravage.”
And added “In spite of these dire warnings, the State and CA State Parks failed to adequately inspect the Lachman Fire burn scar, while the City and LADWP remained committed to their plan, which insured an inadequate water supply infrastructure. When the warnings proved prescient, the destruction was a foregone conclusion.”
The suit also details LA DWP’s decision not to shut off electricity. “LADWP’s failure to de-energize its distribution equipment caused multiple pole fires, including one captured in an eyewitness video on January 7, 2025, at approximately 3:36 p.m. at 17015 Pacific Coast Highway, directly in front of the Malibu Village mobile home park. On information and belief, this pole fire spread and ultimately caused the complete destruction of the Malibu Village mobile home park.
“Defendants’ conscious decision not to de-energize power, despite winds of over 80 to 100 miles per hour, led to combinations of overhead power lines arcing, power poles breaking, and transformers exploding—clear consequences of LADWP’s choice to leave its equipment energized. Sparks rained down, exacerbating existing fires or igniting new sources of fuel, as depicted in the below images taken during the Palisades Fire.”
The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages.
According to Roger Behle of Foley, Bezek, Behle & Curtis, “The suit filed by the City of Malibu will be added to all the cases now pending before Superior Court Judge Samantha Jessner.
“The judge has issued her final ruling denying the motions to dismiss, filed by the State and City. The case is going forward full steam ahead,” Behle said.