8 Workers Sue Santa Ana, County Over Flooded Cars

Eight county employees whose cars were submerged over their hoods when winter storms flooded a parking garage earlier this year have filed a lawsuit in Superior Court.

The lawsuit, filed last week, alleges that the city and the county, which together own Stadium Garage on West Civic Center Drive, allowed the structure’s first floor to flood during a Jan. 4 storm and failed to alert car owners.

Also listed in the suit are AMPCO System Parking, which operates the structure, and CRSS Constructors Inc., which is building the Santa Ana police and jail facility next to it.

The lawsuit alleges that during construction, CRSS closed the parking structure’s drainage line, causing the flooding.

Steve Blaylock, the jail project manager for CRSS, said he had not seen the lawsuit, but added: “The whole city of Santa Ana was flooded. It didn’t have anything to do with a storm drain.”

According to the lawsuit, all but two of the flooded cars were deemed total losses by insurance companies. The water rose over the hoods, causing engine and other damage. Attorney Kevin B. Connolly, who is representing the employees, said damages are estimated at $80,000.

Virginia Budds, a Superior Court clerk who is a plaintiff in the suit, said she was “devastated, with tears in my eyes,” when she saw her white 1985 Honda Accord submerged.

Robert Wheeler, an assistant city attorney for the city, said that there have been several lawsuits regarding flooding in city-owned garages over the past 15 years but that the city has won every case.

“It’s an act of God,” he said.