Confidential
Settlement – $4,250,000Mediator
Court
L.A. Superior Santa Monica
Attorneys
Plaintiff
Edward G. Burg
(Manatt, Phelps & Phillips LLP)
Defendant
Robert C. Ceccon
(Richards Watson & Gershon APC)
Experts
Plaintiff
Frank Weirich
(technical)
John Opsal
(technical)
Scott Franklin
(technical)
Rodney B. Spears
(technical)
John R. Mawhinney
(technical)
Awtar Singh
(technical)
Thomas R. Garrick M.D.
(medical)
Defendant
Brian P. Jacks
(medical)
John G. Wright
(technical)
Douglas Hamilton
(technical)
Thomas Slosson
(technical)
Richard H. French
(technical)
Thomas W. Snow
(technical)
John G. Ellis
(technical)
Edward D. Martinet II
(technical)
David Curtis
(technical)
James M. Hansen
(technical)
Edward Nahabedian
(technical)
Lawrence Kaltman
(technical)
Bryan A. Stirrat
(technical)
Robert F. Dill
(technical)
G. William Beyer
(technical)
Randall Bell
(technical)
Facts
This case involved repeated flooding damage to 10 oceanfront properties located along Pacific Coast Highway (PCH) near its intersection with Big Rock Drive in the city of Malibu. The state of California built PCH in 1921 and widened it in 1933. PCH was built over a seasonal creek which drains Piedra Gorda Canyon, a 445-acre undeveloped canyon in the Santa Monica Mountains. The state built a 4-foot by 6-foot box culvert under PCH to allow the creek to drain to the Pacific Ocean. The state determined in 1939 that its culvert under PCH was undersized, especially to handle increased run-off that would be produced from the canyon after a fire burned the watershed cover. A state study in 1959 also recommended that the culvert's capacity be increased. Nothwithstanding its prior studies, the state never enlarged its culvert under PCH. Approximately 750 feet up the canyon, Big Rock Drive, a city street owned and maintained by defendant city, was built across the mouth of Piedra Gorda Canyon. An embankment of fill more than 20 feet high was placed across the canyon to construct the street. A drain was built under the street to allow the creek to drain toward the ocean. This drain, too, was undersized, although the road served to hold back significant amounts of debris. Piedra Gorda Canyon burned in Old Topanga Fire of November 1993. The fire produced increased flow of mud, organics, and other detritus out of the canyon in subsequent rains. After a moderate rainfall on Feb. 7, 1994, the increased flow could not fit through the drain under Big Rock Drive. It overflowed onto Big Rock Drive, and then flowed down the street, onto PCH, and into the plaintiffs' homes. The material that was conveyed through the city's drain under Big Rock Drive could not fit through the state's culvert under PCH. The mud and water overflowed onto PCH and flooded the plaintiffs' homes. Similar flooding damage to various of the plaintiffs' homes occurred during rainstorms on Feb. 20, 1994, Jan. 10, 1995, and March 10, 1995. The plaintiffs brought this action against the defendants based on an inverse condemnation theory of recovery.
Settlement Discussions
The plaintiffs made a C.C.P. º998 settlement demand for $_______. The defendants made a C.C.P. º998 offer of compromise for $__________.
Damages
The plaintiffs sought damages for diminution in value of their properties, personal property destroyed by the floods, repair costs for clean-up and rebuilding and relocation expenses.
Other Information
The settlement was reached approximately two years and four months after the case was filed. The city's settlement was paid by its insurers, and no public funds of the city were contributed. MEDIATION: Several mediations were held before retired judge Eli Chernow resulting in the reported settlement.
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