BURBANK : City to Pay $27,000 for Flood Damage

The Burbank City Council has released funds to pay a $27,000 settlement to three local business owners who had contended that a faulty sewer design caused property damage during a major flood two years ago.

As part of the settlement, which the city and the business owners reached last month, Burbank does not admit to liability for the damage, said Carolyn Barnes, assistant city attorney for Burbank.

“We alleged it was an act of God, or an act of nature,” Barnes said Tuesday, when the council voted to release the funds.

Four local business people filed the suits separately after the flooding that struck Burbank and other parts of Southern California on Feb. 10, 1992. The businesses were all in the Lake Street area of Burbank, which has a lower elevation than the rest of the city.

“They felt the city should have designed a better storm drain system for the area,” Barnes said. The parties to the lawsuit were Samuel and Suzanne Trussell, who own an aircraft parts manufacturing business, as well as business owners Mark Hines; Gustavo and Deborah Cabrera and Scott Dordick.

The City Council agreed to settle in December when two businesses who the group also sued, Pacific Recycling and Lockheed Corp., agreed to settle. The terms of those settlements were not disclosed.