Developer Ordered to Shore Up Slide Area
San Juan Capistrano officials must require a developer to stabilize a hillside that partially collapsed in 1998 during El Nino storms, damaging or threatening five homes, a judge has ruled.
SunCal Cos. of Anaheim contributed to the collapse while grading for the Pacific Point project, Orange County Superior Court Judge William F. McDonald ruled last week in a lawsuit homeowners filed in May 2001 against the city and the developer of the 256-acre project.
Jay Curtis, forced out of his Meredith Canyon home after the landslide, said the ruling was a victory for the homeowners.
“This means they’re going to have to make the homes stable so that they can be lived in again,” Curtis said. “In order to do that, they’ll have to put the hill back. The judge ruled the developer had a duty to support the hill and they didn’t do it.”
Lawyers for the city and SunCal said they have not decided whether to appeal the judgment, which ordered the developer to formulate a plan to stabilize the hillside within 60 days. John Shaw, attorney for San Juan Capistrano, argued before McDonald that the city’s original agreement with the developer said the city was not required to stabilize the hillside. Lawyers for the homeowners argued that the hillside should have been stabilized early in the project.
The homeowners also have lawsuits pending against SunCal and the city of San Juan Capistrano for damages for the value of their homes and relocation expenses.
Curtis’ house on Via La Mirada is the only home still declared uninhabitable. Owners of the other homes could be evacuated if there is more slippage.
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