Judge to Split Landslide Case Into 2 Trials

The beleaguered residents of La Conchita, still digging out more than a year after a massive landslide slammed into their tiny beachfront community, will get their day in court--next year.

Ventura County Superior Court Judge Barbara A. Lane agreed Thursday to split the complex case into two trials--a move that helps ensure a quicker hearing on the suit. She set January for the first trial, which will decide if La Conchita Ranch Co., which owns the hillside above the community, is liable for the slide.

If a jury decides that the ranch is to blame for the catastrophe, another trial will be scheduled to determine how much in damages the company and its insurance carriers must pay the residents.

“It’s significant because a complex case can bump around the Ventura County court system for many years,” said attorney John F. “Mickey” McGuire Jr., who represents more than 140 residents in the lawsuit.

“Now we have a date on the calendar to look at,” said resident Warren Bateman, who crowded into Lane’s courtroom with about 35 of his neighbors to hear her ruling.

Cases with this many parties and that require a great deal of expert testimony typically take three to five years to get to trial, McGuire said. He said the decision to split the case into two shorter trials would ease the burden on the court system, which is hard pressed to find a judge and jurors for a trial that lasts two or more months.

Lane’s agreement to hear the case in two parts was opposed by ranch attorneys, who argued that the case should be heard intact.

Bateman and other homeowners who have unoccupied homes and have stopped making mortgage payments hope that the court date will keep their banks from foreclosing on their properties.

Bateman and his wife own two homes in the community, both of which have been vacant since the March 1995 slide.

Bateman said he has been unable to keep up with his mortgage payments on both houses and that while his banks have been understanding thus far, at least one has begun sending threatening letters discussing foreclosure.

“That court date could mean a lot to the mortgage companies,” he said.

Attorneys for the ranch did not return telephone calls.

On March 4, 1995, more than 11 tons of mud and debris surged out of the hills above the town, destroying nine homes and damaging dozens more. Geologists say the hill is still unstable, and many residents have abandoned their homes for residences elsewhere.

The remaining homes have been devalued severely, with the Ventura County assessor saying many are worthless until the hill is fixed. But the cost of cleaning the huge mess--which has closed three blocks of Vista Del Rincon--and stabilizing the hill has been estimated at more than $30 million.

“We don’t care how much it costs,” Bateman said. “We just want it fixed.”

In their suit, the residents blame the ranch company for the slide, alleging that a change in irrigation habits severely weakened the hill. The suit also alleges that ranch workers further weakened the hill when they cut an access road across the middle.

The suit seeks unspecified damages and asks a judge to order the ranch to clean up the mess and stabilize the hill.

Some residents also blame the county for allowing the ranch to replace its grazing land with citrus and avocado trees, which require a great amount of water. But county officials have maintained since the slide that the legal dispute is between only the residents and the ranch.

Ventura County has not been named in the lawsuit. And in January, Lane ruled that the county is not required to clean and reopen the closed portions of Vista Del Rincon.