Los Angeles County announced its decision to file a lawsuit against electric services company Southern California Edison for damages suffered due to the November 2018 Woolsey Fire on April 26.
The move comes on the heels of a similar move from the City of Malibu just days prior.
An online statement posted to the County Board of Supervisors website explained the county would be joined by the county’s Flood Control District and the Consolidated Fire Protection District.
“LA County incurred over $100 million in costs and damages from the Woolsey Fire including fire suppression, emergency response and recovery efforts, infrastructure damages, injury to natural resources, loss of tax revenue, and other significant losses,” the statement read.
In a February federal form 10-K investor filing, per the county, SCE admitted its equipment “could be found to have been associated with the ignition of the fire,” and goes to specify that the company noticed “a disturbance” where the fire originally began.
In the statement, Third District Supervisor Sheila Kuehl—who represents Malibu—said, “Although I know it won’t bring people’s homes or businesses back, and won’t heal the trauma or grief my constituents are experiencing, or restore our charred hillsides, it’s very important to require entities to be held responsible.”
Both the LA County and City of Malibu lawsuits were filed by the law firm Baron & Budd, P.C. The two are among dozens of lawsuits filed by private homeowners and business owners—some of whom reside in Malibu.