Final Lawsuit Settled in 1993 Landslide

Six years after a landslide forced dozens of families to flee their Anaheim Hills homes, city officials and others have settled the last in a series of lawsuits, paying more than $19 million in all.

Nearly 250 families sued Anaheim and others involved with the housing development endangered by the January 1993 Santiago Landslide. Earlier this month, the last plaintiff agreed to settle her case for $27,250, concluding one of the longest landslide litigations in state history, said attorney Michael Rubin, who represented the city.

Many residents said they were just glad to see the matter come to a close.

“I don’t know if this is something to be joyful about. I mean, it’s settled. It’s over,” said Ed Muratori, whose home was damaged in the slide. “We sued for much more money than what we got, but this thing was just going on for too long. At some point in time, you get tired.”

Amid torrential rains that led to a disaster declaration for much of Southern California, city officials learned that the saturated Anaheim Hills bluff was sliding about an inch a day and evacuated 46 families.

In their lawsuits, residents charged that authorities should not have allowed developers to build on land known to be susceptible to landslides. The homeowners also contended that brittle plastic pipes cracked and leaked, contributing to the landslide, and should not have been used in construction.