For Homeowner, Lawsuit Against City Is a Cliffhanger

Just below the deck of Helen Yunker’s hillside Ventura home, a three-story cliff drops sharply away and leaves her split-level house teetering dangerously close to the edge.

Yunker, a 79-year-old real estate broker, wants the adjacent property owner to shore up the eroding hillside before it swallows her Brodiea Avenue home.

Trouble is, the city owns the sliver of undeveloped land and has taken the position that it is not responsible for its condition. City engineers, who have questioned whether Yunker’s property faces imminent danger, have also said the city is willing to help secure the slope--but at her expense.

Yunker responded with a lawsuit. She now hopes a jury, which began hearing evidence in the case last week, will force the city to fix the hillside and pay the estimated $550,000 bill for reinforcing it.

“Eventually, my house will collapse,” Yunker said this week. “It is very serious.”

Built in 1964, the 1,850-square-foot, two-bedroom residence, which offers spectacular coastal views, sits perched on stilts in the hills north of Memorial Park near midtown Ventura. The adjacent city land, a narrow weed-choked lot wedged between five homes, lies directly west of Yunker’s property line.

The stability of the hillside didn’t concern Yunker when she moved into the house in 1977, she said. But she began to worry in 1998 after a large chunk of the slope washed away during heavy El Nino winter rains.

For the next two years, Yunker wrote letters and hired geologists in hopes of persuading city officials that her situation was dire and warranted their attention. Then she sued.

Her Ventura attorney, David Tredway, contends a city storm channel at the baseof the hillside undercut its stability over the years and put Yunker’s home in jeopardy.

“We’ve basically said, ‘It’s your lot--fix it. And if you won’t, give us the money and we’ll fix it,’ ” Tredway said.

On May 15, the case went before a Ventura County jury, which inspected the hillside during a court-arranged visit. The panel has also heard testimony from geologists, a hydrologist and a local property appraiser.

The appraiser, called by Tredway, told jurors that “without problems” Yunker’s home would be worth about $638,000. But he said her letters to the city and geologic reports would have to be disclosed to potential buyers and likely scuttle a sale. Based on the estimated cost of repairs, the appraiser valued the home at about $88,000.

San Diego attorney Bruce Beach, who is representing the city, challenged the appraiser’s conclusions. But Beach refused to comment on the case during a recent court recess and referred questions to Ventura City Atty. Robert Boehm.

On Wednesday, Boehm also refused to discuss the lawsuit while the matter is pending before a jury.

“It would just not be appropriate to comment,” he said.

In previous interviews, Ventura’s city engineer, Rick Raives, has said the city is not liable because the hillside is in its natural state and hasn’t been developed. He also downplayed the risk to Yunker’s home.

However, Tredway said studies have shown the slope has retreated on average six inches a year--more than normal weathering.

Tredway also contends city officials knew the storm channel, which was exposed until workers covered it up in 1979, had compromised the integrity of the hillside but did not inform neighbors.

Closing arguments in the case are scheduled for this morning before Superior Court Judge Barbara Lane.

For Yunker, an energetic senior who works part time, the lawsuit has put her at odds with a city she says she loves.

Standing on the deck of her home, Yunker, a part-owner of Helen Yunker Realty in Ventura and a city resident since 1958, said the court action has drained her financially and emotionally.

“It is just horrible,” she said. “They say, ‘Well, there is no damage to her house.’ But there is going to be.”