Lawyers representing a group of homeowners plan to appeal the decision.
By Olivia Damavandi / Staff Writer
A lawsuit filed by three legal firms on behalf of residents that attempted to hold the state accountable for the 2007 Corral Canyon Fire was dismissed by the Los Angeles Superior Court Judge last month.
However, firms Girardi and Keese, Engstrom, Lipscomb and Lack, and Devitt and Chelberg have stated they will challenge the ruling with a notice of appeal, which must be submitted by Aug. 14.
The plaintiffs, 18 homeowners who lost their homes in the fire, are asking for $30 million. Calls placed last week to the firms to verify the information have not yet been returned.
The Corral Fire, Malibu’s worst since 1993, started after an illegal campfire in an area on State Parks property known as “the cave” got out of control. The fire burned 4,900 acres and destroyed 86 structures, including 53 homes.
Five suspects were charged with two felonies related to the fire. Although they have not denied being at the campfire, their attorneys have said any wrongdoing committed was not a crime.
Brian David Franks, 28, was sentenced to five years probation and 300 hours community service in February by Van Nuys Superior Court, after pleading no contest to a felony charge of recklessly causing a fire.
As part of his plea deal, Franks agreed to be available to testify against the other four defendants in the case-Brian Alan Anderson, 23; William Thomas Coppock, 24; Eric Matthew Ullman, 19; and Dean Allen Lavorante, 20.
A trial for Anderson and Coppock is scheduled to take place in October after which Ullman and Lavorante are expected to enter plea bargains, said Corral Canyon resident Beverly Taki, who has been closely following court proceedings.
Meanwhile, the class action lawsuit against the state, filed March of last year, alleges that the state’s indifference to years of reports about partying at the top of Corral Canyon led to the Corral Fire.
Plaintiffs say a gate should have been erected at the state park boundary to prevent night access to the park by car or by foot, and that the ability for people to physically enter the cave created a dangerous situation.
But, in its ruling, the state says there is nothing inherently dangerous about the physical condition of the park land, and that neither the existence of an open cave nor that of vehicle access up Corral Canyon Road were the causes of the fire.
“This fire was the result of the criminal or negligent conduct of the partiers, and not of a dangerous condition of public property,” the court ruling states.
Scott Palamar, a Corral Canyon resident who lost his home in the fire, said the five suspects’ trials are secondary to the lawsuit against the state.
“It [the fire] was an accident waiting to happen,” Palamar said last week in a telephone interview. “If they [the suspects] didn’t do it, someone else would have.
“If they get locked away, what good does it do me?” he continued. “For the state to take responsibility for their property would not only make things right for me but for anybody with property next to state land.”