Local News in Brief : Slide Suit Funds Voted
The Assembly on Friday voted final passage to legislation appropriating $25 million, and potentially as much as $75 million, to settle about 200 lawsuits triggered by damage to homes on Malibu’s Big Rock Mesa during a 1983 landslide. The vote was 58 to 1.
The bill, by Sen. Gary K. Hart (D-Santa Barbara), ratifies a settlement reached last year between the state Department of Transportation and homeowners. Under the agreement, if homeowners fail to receive at least $50 million from Los Angeles County, Caltrans will make up the difference. The measure now goes to Gov. George Deukmejian, who last year indicated he would sign the bill.
The settlement resulted from numerous suits filed against the state and the county. Homeowners claim the slides were caused by earth removal during the construction of Pacific Coast Highway and the lack of sewage connections when the area was developed.
Estimates of the state’s liability, if the case was not settled, range from $150 million to $250 million, according to a Senate analysis of the legislation.
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