Add Spencer Pratt and Heidi Montag to the growing list of Pacific Palisades homeowners who’ve filed lawsuits against Los Angeles over damage to their properties caused by the city’s historic wildfires.
In a lawsuit filed on Tuesday in Los Angeles Superior Court, Pratt and Montag accuse the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power of failing to maintain an adequate water supply system to fight the blazes. They point to delays in in repairing the Santa Ynez Reservoir, leaving the massive water storage complex in the heart of the Palisades empty for nearly a year.
The home owned by The Hills reality stars is one of more than 6,500 structures razed by the Palisades fire. To ease the financial toll of the blazes, Pratt has urged his followers to stream Montag’s 2010 album Superficial, which hit No. 1 on iTunes for albums and song earlier this month.
Pratt and Montag, joined by 20 other property owners in their lawsuit, fault LADWP for emptying the Santa Ynez Reservoir before the fire erupted on Jan. 7, allegedly to seek contractor bids rather than use in-house personnel to repair it.
“This stated public purpose was far outweighed by the substantial risk posed to Pacific Palisades by wildfires,” stated the complaint. “The degree of damage that resulted from the Palisades Fire far outweighed any benefit that could have been realized by outsourcing and delaying repairs.”
With the reservoir out of commission, hydrants in the region failed after three tanks, each holding one million gallons of water, went dry within a span of 12 hours. Gov. Gavin Newsom has ordered an investigation into the causes behind the water supply problems, which hampered efforts to fight the blazes.
City officials have fielded vast criticism over their preparation for the wildfires. Gus Corona, the business manager of IBEW Local 18, the employee union for the LADWP, denounced the delay in implementing necessary repairs to the water supply system. “It’s completely unacceptable that this reservoir was empty for almost a year for minor repairs.” Corona told The Los Angeles Times. “This work should have been done in-house, and they shouldn’t have depended on a contractor to do it; I truly believe it’s something that could have been avoided.”
Mark Pestrella, director of Los Angeles County Public Works, said the hydrant system alone was “not designed to fight wildfires.”
The Palisades Fire was an “inescapable and unavoidable consequence of the water supply system servicing areas in and around Pacific Palisades as it was planned and constructed,” the complaint stated.
The lawsuit alleges inverse condemnation, which allows property owners to seek compensation over damages caused by public use. It seeks unspecified damages.
As the wildfires continue to rage in LA, several property owners have also sued Southern California Edison for failing to take proper steps to mitigate the risk of its lines sparking a blaze. Others, like Montag and Pratt, similarly sued LADWP, which didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
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