SAN CLEMENTE : Homeowners Lose Power Line Suit
A Superior Court judge ruled Monday that the value of three luxury San Clemente homes have not been affected by nearby high-voltage power lines, as the homeowners alleged in a lawsuit.
Judge James R. Ross’ decision upholds the same conclusion reached Friday by the majority of the members of an advisory jury: There is no correlation between the power lines and the diminishing values of the Mariner’s Point homes.
The plaintiffs’ attorney, Michael Withey, said he will appeal the decision. He tried to convince the jury and Ross that the homeowners should have been compensated for the loss.
The case, which was heard in Superior Court in Fullerton, pits the homeowners against San Diego Gas & Electric Co. in a twist to the decades-old controversy over the purported health risks of high-voltage power lines.
Rather than contend the electromagnetic fields emitted by the power lines cause health problems, the homeowners said the power lines have destroyed their property values by scaring off potential buyers. Buyers, they argued, fear there might be a link between the power lines and cancer.
Twenty-four homeowners sued in 1992, alleging the four new power lines added to the existing seven increased the electromagnetic emissions, hence causing their property values to plummet. All but six--three couples--dropped out of the lawsuit before the trial.
Ross refused the plaintiffs’ final request Monday to force the utility company to move the power lines or reconfigure them to reduce the electromagnetic field. The judge noted that early in the case the utility offered to reconfigure the power lines, but the homeowners refused.
SDG&E; attorney Greg Barnes said that initially the company offered to reconfigure the lines at the homeowners’ expense--probably about $36,000--and later, in settlement talks just before the trial, offered to do the job for free.
After hearing testimony from health, real estate and physics experts, nine of the 12 jurors decided Friday that SDG&E;’s wires had not diminished the value of the homes. Ross saw no reason to disagree.
