County Gets $6.8 Million in Suit Over Landslide

So time-consuming, so inconvenient was this battle, that residents and county officials actually cheered Monday when Los Angeles County Supervisor Deane Dana declared it officially over.

Before a crowd of at least 30 people in Hacienda Heights, Dana announced the county Department of Public Works was awarded $6.8 million in a judgment against Great Western Bank, ending a dispute over a 1983 landslide above Montellano Avenue that wiped out four homes, endangered several others and sparked 12 years of litigation.

Many of the homeowners had settled with Great Western years ago, said Brenton Goodrich, a private attorney who handled the case for the county.

“This went back and forth through the appellate courts like a yo-yo,” said Goodrich, explaining the unusual length of the case.

A Superior Court jury decided Great Western’s predecessor, Prudential Savings and Loan, negligently designed and developed the land so that it could not withstand heavy rainfall. The bank merged with Prudential in the mid-1970s, Goodrich said.

A section of the avenue that has been covered by a mound of dirt and rendered impassable for almost 16 years will be repaired, said John Green, project manager for the Public Works department.