A veteran FedEx worker living in Altadena, whose home was destroyed in the Eaton Fire, filed a civil lawsuit this morning against Southern California Edison. It alleges the utility company failed to de-energize power equipment and clear brush in the area where the fire began.
Attorneys for Evangeline Iglesias alleged negligence, premises liability and violations of the public utilities code, among other allegations in the 23-page civil complaint filed in Los Angeles Superior Court.
A single mother, Iglesias had had a decades-long career with FedEx and saved to buy and maintain a single-family home, “which has now — along with a lifetime of possessions — been destroyed in the fire.” The suit seeks unspecified punitive damages in addition to compensatory damages.
The suit alleges that the utility should have been well aware of the dangers based on forecasts of potentially catastrophic Santa Ana winds for several days before they ripped through Los Angeles, fanning multiple blazes that include the Palisades Fire.
“There is clear evidence from video footage, photographs, and witness accounts that the fire was caused by electrical equipment operated by Defendants Edison International and Southern California Edison (collectively “SCE”)” the complaint alleges. “SCE had a duty to properly maintain and operate its electrical infrastructure, yet it failed to do so.”
Moreover, the suit alleges that despite “repeated and clear warnings, and thought it appears that SCE de-energized certain electrical equipment in and around Eaton Canyon, SCE failed to de-energize all of its electrical equipment in the area that day.”
In the hours “preceding the first report of a fire in the Eaton Canyon at approximately 6:15 p.m.,” the court filing alleges “data shows that there were more than 300 faults on SCE’s lines in the vicinity of the fire’s origin.”
Authorities so far say the cause of the Eaton Fire remains under investigation. On Sunday the utility company issued a news release in which they said SCE had filed two Electric Safety Incident Reports (ESIR) with California Public Utilities Commission related to current wildfires — one for the Eaton Fire and another for the Hurst Fire.
The reports contain preliminary information and are provided “within two to four hours after a triggering event,” and are often submitted “before SCE can determine whether its electric facilities are associated with an ignition.”
Additionally, the utility company said it had received evidence preservation notices from counsel representing insurance companies in connection with the fire, according to preliminary analysis of electrical circuit information for the four energized transmission lines in the Eaton Canyon area. That analysis shows no interruptions, or operational or electrical anomalies, in the 12 hours prior to the fire’s reported start time until more than one hour after the reported start time of the fire.
The plaintiff’s suit said Southern California Edison had a “history of causing catastrophic damage in Southern California” and that its electrical equipment was responsible for the 2017 Thomas Fire and the 2018 Woolsey Fire, “both of which destroyed thousands of homes, caused billions of dollars in damage, and displaced thousands of families.”
