The Malibu victims of the November fire that burned 53 homes are asking for nearly a half-billion dollars from the state. Meanwhile, two suspects accused of starting the fire could be nearing a deal to avoid a trial.
By Jonathan Friedman / Assistant Editor
Malibu attorney James Devitt said on Monday he plans to file a lawsuit against the state on behalf of 75 victims of last November’s Corral Fire. Devitt’s clients announced their intention to seek compensation from the state, which they say failed to take the appropriate precautions to prevent the fire, earlier this year.
The first step in the process began in March when Devitt’s clients began filing claims. His clients along with insurance companies not represented by Devitt made claims totaling approximately $513 million. Nearly $500 million worth of the claims were from Devitt’s clients.
A state panel called the Victims Compensation and Government Claims Board has rejected nearly all the claims, with a few remaining to be heard. The rejections were made, a spokesperson said, not due to any analysis of the claims but because they were complex and outside the purview of that three-person panel.
Devitt’s lawsuit will be filed well within the six-month window in which he had to do it since the claims were rejected. He says the California Department of Parks and Recreation was negligent because officials ignored years of reports about partying at the top of Corral Canyon and did not conduct proper brush clearance. The fire began in the early hours of Nov. 24 when an illegal campfire in an area on State Parks property at the top of Corral Canyon known as The Cave got out of control.
Devitt said he has tried to get in touch recently with State Parks, but has been unsuccessful.
“I’ve left messages and never gotten a call back,” he said. “They know who we are, that’s for sure.”
Roy Stearns, spokesperson for State Parks, said he could not comment until the lawsuit is actually filed.
Criminal case continues
Meanwhile, the five suspects accused of starting the fire are still facing criminal charges, although the defense attorneys of at least two suspects are in talks to cut a deal that would avoid a trial.
The arraignment hearing for Culver City residents Eric Matthew Ullman and Dean Allen Lavorante was continued last Thursday morning to Oct. 3 in Van Nuys Superior Court. Their arraignment has been delayed several times this year.
The reason for this continuance is because Deputy District Attorney Shelly Samuels was working at a trial in the Antelope Valley. Samuels was recently assigned to the Corral Fire case after prosecutor Anne Ambrose was removed. Sources say Ambrose left the case because she recently became pregnant. Samuels is the third prosecutor to be assigned to this case. The original prosecutor was Samuel Dordulian, who left earlier this year to enter private practice.
“This was not some sort of great meaningful thing,” Lavorante’s attorney, Ben W. Pesta II, said after the court session about the continuance. “I wouldn’t attach anything to it.”
Pesta said he and Mark Werksman, Ullman’s attorney, continue to have discussions with the District Attorney’s Office about a possible deal.
“They have been in good faith on both sides,” Pesta said. He added, “The DA’s Office is looking at this case very carefully. Shelly Samuels is an extremely capable senior prosecutor.”
Pesta said his client and Ullman have a “great difference in culpability” from the other three suspects in the case-Los Angeles residents Brian Allan Anderson, William Thomas Coppock and Brian David Franks. Pesta and Werksman have made similar statements in the past.
“The two cases are like day and night in terms of responsibility,” Werksman said in May. “I think there’s a general recognition that Eric and Dean didn’t do anything wrongful with regard to the fire in Malibu.”
The attorney for Franks said in December his client had less to do with the fire than the other two Los Angeles suspects, and that Franks was the only one of the three who tried to put out the fire.
The Los Angeles trio pleaded not guilty in December. The men are scheduled to appear in court on Sept. 26 for a preliminary hearing to determine if there is enough evidence for a trial.
According to a press release issued by the District Attorney’s Office in December, Ullman and Lavorante were the first to appear at The Cave in the late hours of Nov. 23. The Los Angeles trio arrived later.
The five suspects are charged with felony counts of recklessly causing a fire with great bodily injury and recklessly causing a fire to an inhabited structure. The District Attorney’s Office says the blaze was started “during and within an area of a state of emergency,” which would require a mandatory state prison sentence if the suspects were convicted. Defense attorneys have argued there was not a state of emergency in effect when the fire began.
In addition to destroying 53 homes, the Corral Fire burned 4,900 acres. It destroyed 37 vehicles and a mobile home. Another 45 structures, including 33 homes, were damaged. Six firefighters were injured, including one who received second-degree burns to the face.