Confidential
Settlement – $2,250,000Judge
Court
Santa Cruz Superior
Attorneys
Plaintiff
Anthony Marsh
(Law Office of Anthony Marsh)
Defendant
Shannon B. Jones
(Shannon B. Jones Law Group Inc.)
John J. Fritsch
(Office of the Santa Rosa City Attorney)
Jonathan N. King
(Newmeyer & Dillion LLP)
Facts
This matter involved three consolidated lawsuits and six adjacent residential property owners in Watsonville. The
plaintiffs' homes are part of a 31-unit subdivision that was constructed in 1994-95. The backyards of all their
properties are adjacent to a slough owned by the City of Watsonville. Three different landslides in the slough
destroyed the backyard of two of the plaintiffs' houses and threatened to destroy the properties of the other four
plaintiffs. Poorly constructed landfill was placed along the west side of the slough in 1985. A second layer of fill was placed on top of the first layer in 1991. This second layer of fill was retained by a 4' high wall, which ran along the rear property line of all of the plaintiffs' houses.
In 2001, two of the property owners discovered two separate landslides, which had occurred behind each of their properties in the open space slough. They each requested the City of Watsonville to repair the landslides, but the City refused to do so, threatening to red tag their houses if it had to inspect the landslides. At the time, the
slough was owned by defendant Holcomb Corporation. The slough was subsequently transferred to the City of
Watsonville in November 2001. In July 2002, one of the slides expanded uphill into the backyards of plaintiffs,
Knight and Zavala. That landslide eventually destroyed their entire backyards and the corner of adjacent
properties owned by plaintiffs Krein and Acosta. Zavala and Knight saved their houses by underpinning their
rear foundations with 38' deep, tied back piers. The fill slope behind three of the other property owners was
discovered to have dropped about one foot adjacent to the rear retaining wall. Plaintiffs Coopers bought their property at the end of 2002. The Coopers claim that they were never told that there was a landslide on the other side of their retaining wall and that the soil had dropped about 3' adjacent to the retaining wall. A fence on top of the wall prevented them from observing this fact. The sellers had provided information regarding this slide and other slides in the neighborhood to their real estate agent, but plaintiffs Coopers claim that information was never transmitted to them. At an initial joint expert conference held by Special Master, Timothy J. Schmal, in August 2004, one of the defendants' experts opined that those portions of the hillside, which had not slid, would never slide. He proposed installing a Hilficker wall behind the Knight and Zavala properties and performing no repairs to the other properties. Another defense expert, Daniel Dyckman, a geotechnical engineer, expressed concern that the hillside behind the Krein property might slide and suggested an interim repair measure of tying back the existing wall. The Kreins had that work performed in December 2004. In February 2005, the entire hillside behind their wall slid downhill but the tiebacks saved the wall and prevented this new landslide from expanding onto Krein's property.
The plaintiffs also alleged garage slabs were improperly constructed, causing them to lift 2-3" creating a trip
hazard. Since the statute of limitations had elapsed in regard to the garage slabs, the plaintiffs pursued a cause
of action for nuisance against the developers for the cost of replacing the slabs. The developers and builders of the houses, defendants Corrigan and Tansy, were uninsured. They admitted they were liable for strict liability but vigorously contested the nuisance cause of action, which allowed the plaintiffs to recover damages for mental anguish, inconvenience, etc. Corrigan and Tansy contended that construction of the fill slope and the retaining wall were performed by predecessors in interest and overseen by engineers, including defendant Haro Kasunish & Associates Inc. The plaintiffs alleged nuisance against the City of Watsonville and its predecessor, Holcomb Corporation, for failing and refusing to repair the landslides.
Result
The case was settled for $2,250,000 before mediators Timothy J. Schmal (Barton, Volkman & Schmal, LLP, Santa Cruz) and retired Judge Harkoon Paik (Carmel).
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