Torrance to Settle Suit Over Condemned House
Torrance City Council members agreed Wednesday to pay $2.26 million to end a four-year lawsuit that charged they improperly condemned a house to stabilize a landslide on city property.
The agreement raises the city’s total cost for the 1986 landslide on a Hollywood Riviera bluff to more than $7 million.
Homeowner Fred J. Smith, whose 4,000-square-foot house was demolished by the city after the slide exposed part of the home’s foundation, charged that the city knew of methods to shore up the hillside without condemning his land.
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