The Wait May Be Over for Landslide Litigants

Two years after the La Conchita landslide, residents whose homes were destroyed in the disaster were told Monday that the lawsuit they brought against a nearby ranch owner could finally go to trial within a month.

Superior Court Judge William Peck assured residents at a status conference that the case is a top priority.

“It needs to be resolved,” Peck said at the hearing attended by about two dozen residents, “and one way or another it will.”

Nine homes were destroyed and dozens of others damaged when more than 11 tons of mud and debris rolled down the hills above La Conchita on March 4, 1995.

Geologists have been closely monitoring the stability of the hill, which two years later still covers a crushed home and nearly three blocks of Vista Del Rincon.

More than 100 homeowners filed a lawsuit in July 1995 against the owners of La Conchita Ranch Co., blaming irrigation of citrus and avocado trees located above the seaside town for triggering the mudslide.

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

Outside the courtroom Monday, the residents’ lawyer, John F. McGuire of San Diego, said the judge had been receptive to a motion his clients made recently to force their case to the top of the civil court calendar.

A hearing on that motion for preference is set for next week.

“This case could begin within a month,” an optimistic McGuire said after the hearing.

During an hourlong meeting with Peck in his chambers, McGuire said the judge offered several suggestions to move the case to trial faster, such as waive a jury trial and proceed before a judge.

McGuire said the judge also suggested that if the court calendar gets too congested the lawsuit could be heard by a retired jurist.

McGuire said he needed to talk to his clients before commenting on whether either of those options would be acceptable.

“One way or another, this case is going to be in front of a judge or jury soon,” he said.

Homeowners who joined in the lawsuit say they are frustrated by the long wait for a trial. They filed the motion seeking preference in their case in part because of a number of elderly residents who do not have the luxury of time on their side.

And as plaintiffs struggle to get the legal issues sorted out, residents not directly involved in the case say they are frustrated with and concerned about the mess the mudflow left behind.

“We really feel the whole state and community had left us abandoned,” said La Conchita resident Brett Johnston, who sold his house three months before the landslide but continues to rent a home there.

“We just want our community back to the way it was and get the landslide fixed,” he said.

One of the critical questions residents hope will be answered by the lawsuit is who should pay for the cleanup and stabilization of the hillside, estimated to cost more than $30 million.

Some residents who are not participating in the lawsuit feel the county should pay for it or, at the very least, clean up the roadway still coated with mud and debris.

“If the county issued permits,” Johnston argued, “then they should have known whether it was safe or unsafe to build.”

Ventura County is not named in the lawsuit, however, and Superior Court Judge Barbara A. Lane ruled last year that the county is not required to clean up the mess or stabilize the hill.

Meanwhile, residents of La Conchita face a constant reminder of the disaster.

Wildflowers and native plants now spring from the mound of dirt pushed up against the back doors of houses, a few still occupied. Tattered sandbags used in the last winter storm, or perhaps the one before that, to stop the flow of mud from the hillside still line the streets.

And faded pink signs that read “WARNING: GEOLOGIC HAZARD” are still taped to the doors and windows of almost every home.

“As you can see, two years later, look what I have to look at in the front yard,” said La Conchita denizen Drew McCrary, whose one-bedroom home is just a few yards from the crushed house at the base of the mudslide.

“I love this place,” he said, looking across what used to be a street. “This is my home. I don’t want to look out at that.”

A 20-year resident of La Conchita, McCrary is among those who believe the county should be held responsible for the cleanup of the landslide. He did not join in the lawsuit against the ranch but has suffered many of the same financial hardships as those who did.

“My property tax this year was $8.95,” he said, standing beside his undamaged home once valued at $135,000. “That tells you how much this is worth.”