ANAHEIM : Slide Victims Sue City, County, MWD

Seven Anaheim Hills residents whose homes were damaged by the January landslides have filed a lawsuit claiming that the city of Anaheim, Orange County and the Metropolitan Water District were negligent in allowing their houses to be built on unstable land.

Water officials installed a defective pipeline in an area prone to landslides, according to the complaint filed Friday in Superior Court.

The plaintiffs--William and Kimberly Collett, Gilbert and Kathleen Wiggam, Costance Mills, Robert Davis and Aminta Diaz--are seeking $7 million in general and compensatory damages, according to the lawsuit.

The lawsuit alleges that city and county officials were aware that the Anaheim Hills area was susceptible to landslides yet allowed development.

The defendants “should have recognized that the affected area contained a prehistoric landslide(s) and high ground water levels and that grading, drainage changes and the introduction of water into the subsurface could trigger landslide movement,” the lawsuit states.

The suit also alleges that a large pipeline installed in the hillside had leaked and caused or contributed to a massive landslide in January. Eventually, 45 homes were evacuated.

In July, however, MWD officials said they inspected the pipe and found no defect.

City officials have said they first learned about the 25-acre landslide when residents of Rimwood Circle reported buckling in the streets in June, 1992.

Between July, 1992, and Jan. 17, the hillside moved one inch. But after heavy rain in January, the slide accelerated dramatically, moving as much as 14 inches in some places.