City Files $10-Million Countersuit in Slide : Courts: Anaheim denies liability for ’93 disaster and ensuing damage and seeks compensation from more than 250 homeowners. One lawyer says it is an attempt to intimidate the victims.

Facing multiple lawsuits from the Anaheim Hills landslide two years ago, the city has countersued more than 250 homeowners for at least $10 million, blaming them for the disaster.

The city’s cross-complaint, filed in Orange County Superior Court, alleges that the residents are “actively responsible in some manner” for the landslide, which caused more than $5 million in damage and forced 46 families to evacuate.

The city wants to be compensated for damage to roadways and sewer systems resulting from the 25-acre landslide. It also wants to be reimbursed for administrative, engineering, public safety and legal expenses.

City Atty. Jack L. White said Tuesday that the city was required to respond to the lawsuits, and that this was its only opportunity to raise these liability questions.

“Our position is to protect the taxpayers’ interest,” White said. “It’s only prudent to attempt to determine if any of the property owners contributed to the problems.

“We didn’t want to have to sue these people,” White added. “But we had no choice.”

William E. Stoner, a Los Angeles attorney representing 244 homeowners in various lawsuits connected to the case, described the city’s countersuit as “tragic” and said the city might be trying to intimidate residents.

“The homeowners are the victims, and they are disappointed that the city has chosen to retaliate against the victims as a defense strategy,” Stoner said Tuesday. “Homeowners are suffering every day with their losses. And the recent rains have only heightened their anxiety and distress.”

In January, 1993, two weeks of unrelenting rain saturated the rolling hillsides of the upscale community and triggered the landslide. The ground moved more than 14 inches in some places, splitting foundations, breaking walls and cracking swimming pools.

In their lawsuits, residents claim that the city knew about an ancient landslide in the area and never should have allowed homes to be built there.

Anaheim’s lawsuit targets only those residents who have sued the city. At least 200 other Anaheim Hills residents involved in lawsuits were not countersued by the city because they do not live in the actual landslide area, White said.

In all, 17 lawsuits involving 465 people have been filed against Anaheim seeking compensation for property damage, lowered home values and emotional distress. All lawsuits have been consolidated and will be heard by the same judge.

The city claims that many of the homeowners cannot sue the city because original developers of some housing tracts had signed agreements not to sue.

Anaheim also denies any liability for the landslide and ensuing damage. It claims that residents failed to follow “prudent” landscaping and irrigation practices and failed to fix leaking utility lines, outdoor pools and ponds, “all of which contributed to the high ground water levels which reduced the stability of the hillside,” the lawsuit states.

Stoner responded: “It’s as though by living in their houses and watering their lawns, they caused the hill to go down.”

The first sign of the landslide had been reported to the city in June, 1992, when residents told officials about cracks in walls and streets. Between July of that year and early January, the hill moved about an inch.

But after a series of winter storms that month, the hill moved about an inch a day over the course of two weeks.

The movement was finally slowed when underground pumps were installed to remove millions of gallons of ground water from the hillside.

Evacuated residents were not allowed to move back until their water and sewer lines passed tests and foundations were checked for cracks caused by ground movement.

A handful of residents never returned to their homes, some of which were declared uninhabitable. Homes in the area are said to be worth between $300,000 and $1.5 million.

Geologists who examined the area for the city after the disaster found that heavy rainfall had lubricated an ancient landslide, speeding existing slippage in the ground.

Gerald Steiner, one of the residents named in the countersuit, said Tuesday that it is “ludicrous” for the city to ask for money from residents who already have lost their homes.

“It’s going to scare a lot of the homeowners, and that is the problem,” said Steiner, who abandoned his damaged home and now lives in Mission Viejo.