County Ordered to Pay for Slide Damage

Los Angeles County should pay a couple $2,075,000 for their luxury home, which was ground to rubble in the destructive 1983 landslide at Big Rock Mesa in Malibu, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Jack T. Ryburn decided Wednesday in the first of about 230 lawsuits that threaten to cost the county as much as $500 million.

Margaret and August Hansch sought $2.3 million from the county, which on Oct. 4 was deemed by Ryburn to be liable for damages, because its engineers should have foreseen the risk in allowing development of the mesa with seepage pits and horizontal drains rather than sewers.

The county argued during the subsequent damage-amount trial that the Hansch loss was no more than $1.8 million. Ryburn ruled early in the non-jury proceeding that the couple should not collect for emotional distress, because the case involved the damaging of property for public use.

The judge set Nov. 12 for a hearing to determine how much interest the Hansches should receive since August, 1983, when the slide occurred, and how much the county should pay in fees for their attorneys, as well as soil engineers and geologists.

Richard Norton, attorney for the Hansch couple, said that could drive the total award up to about $4 million.

Norton said although Ryburn’s finding that the home was worth $2,075,000 did not give his clients everything they sought, “I’m happy with it.”

Still uncertain was the effect of the Hansch case on all the others, something that may have to wait until a probable appeal by O’Melveny & Myers attorneys representing the county. Although lawyers for the other suing homeowners feel the county’s liability has now been established and need not be retried in the other cases, the county’s attorneys contend the Hansch case was not a precedent.

O’Melveny & Myers attorney Robert E. Willett said after Wednesday’s finding by Ryburn that it was “a fair assumption” there will be an appeal, because “it’s clear the county believes the determination on the legal grounds was incorrect.”

As for the other cases, he observed:

“It’s our view that it will be wise for the courts and the parties and everybody involved to await the outcome (of the appeal) in Hansch, because that will be instructive as to what the law in these matters is.”

Attorney Kenneth Chiate, who represents 130 owners of about 165 other properties damaged to one extent or another in the Big Rock Mesa slide, has received permission from Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Maurice Hogan Jr. to proceed to trial Dec. 17 in the suits by 11 of his clients who are over 70 years old. Hogan found that the 11 are entitled to statutory priority because of their ages.

However, Willett said he will go before Hogan on Monday to ask that the cases be delayed pending the outcome of the appeal in the Hansch case.

The big slide involved 150 to 250 acres and left 30 homes condemned. Others are habitable, but property values have plunged.

Although county Supervisor Deane Dana has said damages in all the cases could total as much as $500 million, others have estimated the figure will be much lower.