PALISADES FIRE VICTIMS FILE AMENDED COMPLAINT REVEALING THE UNTOLD STORY OF WHY THE PALISADES FIRE BECAME THE WORST URBAN CONFLAGRATION IN THE CITY'S HISTORY

LOS ANGELES, July 9, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Today victims of the deadly Palisades Fire filed an amended complaint in the lead case for the Palisades Fire Litigation, which alleges new evidence, including why the Santa Ynez Reservoir was empty on the day of the fire, how LADWPs' energized power lines started multiple fires on January 7^th, how the City ignored its own brush clearance ordinances on City-owned vacant lots which contributed to the rapid spread of the fire, and how the City tried to cover up its responsibility for causing the worst urban conflagration in the City's history. The amended complaint was filed in Grigsby, et al. v. City of Los Angeles, Los Angeles Superior Court Case No. 25STCV00832, which has been designated as the lead case by the Court in the Palisades Fire Litigation. The amended complaint was filed by the legal team of Alexander "Trey" Robertson, IV of Robertson & Associates, LLP; Roger Behle and Robert Curtis of Foley, Bezek, Behle & Curtis, LLP and the Hon. Jay C. Gandhi (Ret.), who together represent 3,300 victims of the Palisades Fire.  Attorneys Robertson, Behle and Curtis have been appointed by the Court as Co-Liaison Counsel to lead the litigation on behalf of all victims in the Palisades Fire Litigation.

The amended complaint also adds the State of California as a defendant for allowing the Lachman Fire, which started on New Year's Eve in Topanga State Park, to rekindle on January 7^th. This amended complaint is the result of a six-month investigation and is based upon internal LADWP emails obtained through Public Records Act requests, analysis of LAFD radio transmissions, electrical fault data, video surveillance footage and flight radar data for aerial water-dropping helicopters.

Highlights of the Amended Complaint include the following allegations:
- photos taken hours after LAFD declared the Lachman Fire "fully contained" show no firefighters remained on scene to perform any mop up or were posted as a fire watch (¶43-46);

- contrary to LADWP's press releases, there were no "hurricane force" winds during the critical  period of potential containment during the first 6 hours of the fire (¶62-65);

- LADWP failed to comply with its own policies and state regulations that required annual underwater inspections of the floating cover on the Santa Ynez Reservoir. LADWP's last underwater inspection of this floating cover was done in 2021. After a 160-foot tear was discovered in early 2024, LADWP officials tried to cover up their failure to conduct the required annual inspections by changing their inspection policy after-the-fact to require inspections only every three years. (¶83-128);

- The empty Santa Ynez Reservoir forced water-dropping helicopters to fly long distances outside the fire zone to refill their water tanks, losing a total of 6 hours and 25 minutes of time during the critical initial attack of the fire (¶129-135);

- LADWP failed to de-energize its power lines after the fire started, which caused additional fires to ignite throughout the Palisades contributing to the rapid spread of the fire (¶136-165);

- After being instructed at 1:40 p.m. on January 7^th to go to the Palisades substation to de-energize the electrical circuits, LADWP's patrolman did not arrive at the substation until 6:18 p.m., or approximately 5-1/2 hours later. When the patrolman tried to de-energize the circuits the outdated equipment failed and he had to evacuate the substation without de-energizing any of the circuits because the fire was outside the substation. Twenty-two days later on January 29^th, the patrolman went back into LADWP's computer log and attempted to alter the time that he arrived at the Palisades substation from 6:18 p.m. to 1:47 p.m., in an attempt to eliminated the 5-1/2 hour delay (¶151-163);

- City of Los Angeles ignored its own brush clearance ordinances and overgrown brush on City-owned vacant lots caught fire in the Castellamarre section of the Palisades, which contributed to the rapid spread of the fire and the destruction of homes (¶166-182).

"The failures by the City of Los Angeles were monumental and were directly responsible for the destruction of thousands of homes and loss of life in the Palisades Fire. As if this destruction was not horrible enough, it appears that the City was more worried about protecting its image than protecting the residents of Pacific Palisades," said Alexander "Trey" Robertson, IV, Co-Liaison Plaintiffs' Counsel.   

Attorney Roger Behle commented that "This is just the tip of the iceberg. Each week we continue to discover additional failures by multiple government agencies, all of which contributed to the widespread devastation of the Palisades fire."

About Robertson & Associates, LLP: Alex "Trey" Robertson, IV was appointed by the Court as Co-Lead Plaintiffs' Counsel in the 2017 Woolsey Fire Case, which involved claims by 10,000 victims against Southern California Edison Company. Mr. Robertson has represented thousands of victims of the 2017 Thomas Fire, 2018 Woolsey Fire, 2020 Bobcat Fire, 2020 Holiday Farm Fire (Oregon), 2020 Santiam Canyon Fire (Oregon), 2022 Fairview Fire, 2022 Coastal Fire and 2023 Lahaina Fire. Robertson has recovered nearly $1.4 Billion for his clients during his 38 year career.

Foley Bezek Behle & Curtis, LLP has represented thousands of wildfire victims of the 2018 Woolsey Fire, the 2017 Thomas Fire, the 2020 Bobcat Fire, the 2023 Maui Fire, and other wildfires throughout California, Oregon, and Hawaii.

Contact: Alexander "Trey" Robertson, IV, Robertson & Associates, LLP
(818) 851-3850
[email protected]
www.arobertsonlaw.com

Roger Behle & Robert Curtis, Foley Bezek Behle & Curtis, LLP
(714) 556-1700
[email protected]
[email protected]
www.foleybezek.com

SOURCE Foley Bezek Behle & Curtis