Judge who oversaw Camp fire settlement now suing LADWP after losing home to Palisades blaze ...Middle East

Jay Gandhi, a retired federal judge who served as the mediator in settlements with Pacific Gas & Electric, related to the Camp, Butte and North Bay fires, is joining a lawsuit against Los Angeles’ Department of Water and Power.

Gandhi also mediated settlements with Southern California Edison after the Woolsey, Thomas and Koenigstein fires, and Montecito debris flows.

Though he is experienced in mediating wildfire settlement negotiations, this time, it is more personal – Gandhi and his family lost their home in the Palisades fire in January. He is joining the lawsuit’s legal team, focused on getting the city to take accountability for his family, neighbors and friends that have been affected by the fire, he said.

“It was a sense of security and safety that went up in smoke on January 7,” Gandhi said Tuesday, announcing his participation against the backdrop of his charred property.

Gandhi joins a suit filed on Jan. 13, which now represents more than 750 fire plaintiffs. Current U.S. District Court Judge Dean Pregerson, who also lost his home in the fire, also joined the lawsuit.

The suit focuses on the lack of water in the Palisades, alleging that two reservoirs key to public use in the area were not full, and claims that the LADWP left overhead power lines energized, instead of doing a public safety shutoff, which other major utility companies in the state do during red flag warnings. A red flag warning was in place at the time of the Palisades fire.

“But, when that public use became most needed, the Santa Ynez Reservoir was empty, having been out of commission since February of 2024, awaiting repairs to its cover. The Chautauqua Reservoir was also reportedly empty, having been drained during the summer of 2024 for repairs,” the complaint states.

The three tanks that the area did have to rely on, the Marquez Knolls, Trailer and Temescal tanks, were empty by the end of the day the fire began.

“With these reservoirs out of commission, hydrants in Pacific Palisades failed after three (3) tanks each holding one million gallons of water went dry within a span of 12 hours,” the complaint reads.

LADWP officials acknowledge the vast damage of the fire. But they pushed back on the allegations, saying the utility’s systems were diligently managed.

“It is expected to see plaintiffs joining lawsuits at this early stage to preserve their claims,” said a statement from the utility. “However, long settled law and precedent prevent water utilities, and their rate payers, from being liable for wildfire losses. Fire codes and regulators determine the capacity of public water systems to fight fires, and LADWP’s system exceeded those standards.”

The utility’s attorneys from Munger, Tolles & Olson, a Los Angeles law firm, are relying on a 1911 California Supreme Court decision to defend it against multiple lawsuits blaming the utility for running out of water to fight the blaze. Simply put, attorneys argue, the utility didn’t have a contract to provide the water.

“California courts have long rejected attempts to hold water utilities liable for a failure to provide water to fight fires, absent some specific contract to do so,” wrote LADWP lawyers in a document submitted to the court.

In January, the LADWP’s Power System Senior Assistant General Manager, David Hanson, noted that the agency’s distribution circuits in the Palisades area are underground.

“LADWP has one overhead line in the area, an overhead 34.5 kV subtransmission line—the Royal-Monte Grande 1 Line—that passes approximately a quarter mile from the reported origin of the Palisades Fire. Devices monitoring the Royal-Monte Grande 1 Line recorded no faults or anomalies near the reported time of ignition of the Palisades Fire,” Hanson said, according to remarks presented at Board of Water and Power Commission meeting, Jan. 28

Hanson said the line would shut off and not re-energize if faults were detected, but that at the time of the fire, the line did not trip offline.

Calling the lack of water “deeply troubling,” Gov. Gavin Newsom has ordered an independent investigation into the LADWP’s management of the reservoir and water system.

The lawsuit, filed by Robertson and Associates and Foley Bezek Behle & Curtis, and now joined by Gandhi, states that witnesses and media recorded sparks flying from power lines and that firefighters’ efforts were hindered by arcing power lines above.

The lawsuit requests a jury trial for the matter.

Gandhi believes that the fire was preventable and that the trial could be a “piecemeal” part of restitution for those who lost homes, businesses or both in the Palisades fire. There is precedent for holding a water board responsible for wildfire damage, he said.

He referenced Itani v. Yorba Linda Water District, a case filed against the water district after a 2008 wildfire in Orange County, that resulted in nearly $70 million being awarded to the plaintiffs, which included many homeowners. The plaintiffs argue the Yorba Linda decision was more relevant than the 1911 case that LADWP attorneys are leaning on.

“The city must stand up and claim responsibility and do right by the residents of the Palisades. And that’s why I joined this battle,” Gandhi said.

He is focused on the lessons that can be learned from the fire.

“[We need] lessons learned so mistakes are not repeated. So for example there’s no reason that reservoirs should have gone un-maintained for over a year. Lessons learned is pre-deployment when a weather alert of that magnitude goes in. I know it’s a little bit trite but it’s true: Those who don’t learn from their past are condemned to repeat it,” he said. “Monetarily, I think is helping the Palisades people rebuild what they lost. I think the first step for the city to do is step up and acknowledge some of these. Because until they do that if there’s no justice to be had.”

In this situation, insurance is not enough, the attorneys that filed the suit say. Not only financially, but in terms of future change– the suit is needed so that utility protocol shifts and a similar situation does not happen again.

“All of our clients are underinsured by millions of dollars,” Alex Robertson, a member of the co-counsel, said. Many were only eligible for minimal insurance through the California Fair Plan or had their insurance canceled.

“A lot of people that haven’t gone through losing their home in a fire think that insurance is going to cover 100% of the loss. Unfortunately, that’s not the case. Here in the Palisade specifically and throughout California, homeowners insurers were canceling homeowners policies in 2024,” Robertson said.

Gandhi hopes that, though for him and many homeowners it will be incomplete, unable to replace precious items, collections that held memories, spaces they hoped to share with generations to come, a form of justice is achieved through the lawsuit.

“What’s happened is, I think, a false narrative that this was some sort of anomaly, but it’s not. It’s a manifestation of risks that were widely known but ignored. And the city needs to acknowledge that. Because it can’t happen again. It can’t burn down in another town,” Gandhi said.

Related Articles

Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( Judge who oversaw Camp fire settlement now suing LADWP after losing home to Palisades blaze )

Also on site :

• Omani Minister of Commerce: Omani-Russian relations witness qualitative leap
• Pedestrian fatally struck by Metra BNSF train in west suburbs
• PHOTO COLLECTION: China Auto Show