San Diego

The San Diego City Council on Monday approved a $9-million out-of-court settlement with 17 South San Diego families whose homes were flooded in a rainstorm last year. Most of the money is expected to be taken out of funds previously earmarked for capital improvements because a $12-million city fund used to pay for lawsuits has been depleted.

City officials reached the out-of-court settlement earlier this month, after a Superior Court jury found the city liable for the damages. The damaged homes are on Lauriston, Paxton and Elrose drives and are valued at about $2 million. Under the terms of the agreement, the city will buy 15 flood-damaged homes. The rest of the settlement will go to pay for property losses and emotional distress suffered by the families.

The damage occurred as a result of a catch basin owned by the city and which was leased as a parking lot to a trucking company. On Feb. 2, 1988, a severe rainstorm swept the trucks off the basin floor, and the waters sent truck parts into the drains and spillway, clogging them. The overflow rushed downhill, toward the homes.

In September, the city reached another multimillion-dollar settlement with a woman who was left brain-damaged and quadriplegic after her car was struck by a speeding police car on New Years Day, 1988. The city agreed to a settlement worth $9.5 million.