L.A. Must Pay $8.5 Million for 1978 Fire, Court Decides
The City of Los Angeles will have to pay $8.5 million to eight insurance companies and 22 property owners whose homes were damaged in the disastrous 1978 fire in Mandeville Canyon touched off by a fallen power line, lawyers in the case said Tuesday.
The state Supreme Court last week refused to hear an appeal of a lower court decision affirming the judgment against the city and the Department of Water and Power.
The Oct. 23, 1978, blaze destroyed 230 homes and damaged 45 others. The city was held liable based on the expanding area of the law that public entities must pay property owners for any damage attributed to government action. The city was held liable because its power lines were felled by Santa Ana winds, sparking the blaze, said plaintiffs’ lawyer Michael W. Connally.
Deputy City Atty. Diana Mahmud said the large judgment points out the need for legislation limiting awards in suits against public entities.
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