Judge Removed From One of Suits By Palisades Residents vs. DWP

LOS ANGELES, CA — One of the groups of residents suing the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power over water delivery problems they claim hampered firefighters in battling the Palisades Fire has removed the judge who was scheduled to preside over the case.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Elaine Lu stepped down from the case on Tuesday in the wake of the peremptory challenge filed against her four days earlier by lead plaintiff Spencer Pratt. The case was sent to Judge Samantha Jessner, who will reassign it to another judge.

Pratt was not required to state why he and his fellow plaintiffs wanted a different judge from Lu.

In their suit brought Jan. 21, the residents state that Santa Ynez Reservoir was completely offline and emptied when the fires erupted, leaving fire crews with reduced water availability to put out the Palisades Fire.

"With the Santa Ynez Reservoir effectively out of commission, hydrants in Pacific Palisades failed after three tanks each holding 1 million gallons of water went dry within a span of 12 hours," the suit states.

The DWP also designed the water system for public use that left it without enough water pressure to fight an urban fire, the suit further alleges.

City News Service