Frantz Law Group, APLC Announces Sempra, Edison, Getty Trust and Others Added to Palisades Fire Lawsuit

New evidence shows State Parks prioritized Plants over People

SAN DIEGO, Jan. 7, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- The lawsuit on behalf of thousands of victims of the devastating Palisades Wildfire has been amended to add many new defendants, including Southern California Edison, SoCal Gas/Sempra Energy, the J. Paul Getty Trust, multiple LA County water districts, additional State agencies, and several telecommunications companies, including AT&T.

"Responsibility for the tragic wildfire should be shared by many entities, in addition to the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) and the State of California," said James P. Frantz, CEO of Frantz Law Group, one of the leadership steering committee law firms managing the case.

Thousands of residents are still trying to recover and rebuild after their lives were forever altered a year ago this week. The blaze devastated the community and destroyed more than 6,800 homes and business, killed at least 13 people, and injured many civilians and firefighters.

"A cluster of huge mistakes made by multiple defendants contributed to the entire fire disaster," said Frantz. "SoCal Gas and its parent company Sempra, for example, should be held accountable for their failure to turn off gas lines that caused many homes to explode and expand the scope of the fire carnage."

The J. Paul Getty Trust was added to the suit because it did not adequately cut back overgrown brush that caught fire and spread the blaze to the nearby Castellemmare and Pacific View Estates neighborhoods.

"Southern California Edison was added due to its defective and hollow termite eaten power poles that toppled in high winds," Frantz said. "Like LADWP, Edison failed to de-energize their power equipment and lines despite severe and dire red flag fire warnings from the National Weather Service in the days leading up to Jan. 7 fire. Telecom companies AT&T, Charter and Frontier were included because they utilized these defective, unstable, hollow poles to hold their heavy equipment, which contributed to the blaze when the energized poles and lines toppled over and lit the brush below."

December 2025 depositions of State officials have revealed that the disastrous Palisades Fire may have been avoided if the State of California had not been so focused on protecting plants over people in Topanga State Park where the fire ignited. Although the federal government has charged an alleged arsonist for igniting the prior Jan. 1 Lachman Fire, the State still had a legal obligation to prevent that fire from rekindling on State Land (having advanced notice of the Red Flag Warnings preceding the Jan. 7 Palisades Fire). 

According to Frantz, "The State is responsible for allowing a dangerous condition to exist on public state property. Period."

About Frantz Law Group, APLC

Frantz Law Group is an award-winning personal injury, wrongful death, catastrophic injury, commercial trucking litigation, and mass torts law firm that has been serving clients for over 46 years. Frantz Law Group has been ranked Tier 1 in U.S. News – Best Lawyers® "Best Law Firms" 2010 for mass tort litigation/class actions - plaintiffs. James P. Frantz is a fellow and associate of the American Board of Trial Advocates, is AV® rated by Martindale-Hubbell®, is a 20-year Special Master appointed by the State Bar of California and a 20-year Master in The Enright Chapter, American Inns of Court. For more information, please visit https://www.lacountywildfires.com/ and https://www.frantzlawgroup.com 

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