LOS ANGELES -- Laguna Beach residents who lost their homes in Wednesday's landslide may have few options when trying to recoup their losses, a USC law professor said.
George Lefcoe, who specializes in real estate law, said the government has little responsibility when people choose to live in a geographically hazardous area.
"If the government had gone into an area to undermine the hill and that's why it collapsed, then the government will have a problem," he said. "If they didn't actually transform the condition and worsen it -- we are not a 'nanny' state. We couldn't be because the government couldn't function. They just could not cover these random risks."
And the chances of moving to an area in California without potential geographic hazards is slim to none, he said.
"If you take flood, fire and earthquake -- that will pretty much do it for California," he said, adding that all of the properties in the most desirable areas with ocean views or in the hills are vulnerable.
Lefcoe said a homeseller, by law, must provide a natural hazard disclosure form, which details and maps out potential hazards in the area.
If a seller fails to provide a report or supplies a poorly prepared one, then it's highly likely the seller and the broker that put together the flawed report will be sued, Lefcoe said. Lefcoe said homeowners should make sure a natural hazard disclosure report is prepared by a reputable provider, and read it, because not all disasters are the same.
He called the Laguna Beach landslide "an unusual calamity" because often times when a natural disaster occurs, homeowners lose their house but keep the land, which is a more expensive commodity.
"In a sense, when you're looking at the natural hazards, they're not all alike," he said. "You might lose a quarter of your investment, but not all of it."
He also said potential homebuyers should know, when choosing a house on a hill, that the farther away it is from the beach, the more stable the ground will be.
"All of the hills are basically sand mountains," he said. "The hills closest to the beach are most recently formed."
The Hollywood Hills, for example, are more stable than the Malibu Hills because the ground has had "a longer time to firm up," he said.
Laguna Beach police estimate that 15 to 18 expensive homes were destroyed in the slide in the Bluebird Canyon area of Flamingo Road and Bluebird Canyon Road, near Pacific Coast Highway. Bluebird Canyon -- where many homes are valued at more than $2 million -- was also the site of a devastating 1978 landslide that claimed more than two dozen homes on another part of the hillside.
Why do lefty scum get such a kick out of seeing successful people suffer tragedies?
Sorry folks!...If your stupid enough to put a home on a slope in So. Cal. that the developer says could be prone to landslides...good luck!
The land property is probably worth more without the houses than with them. As long as owners are paying for repairs and rebuilding, not to mention the cost of govt. infrastructure repairs, the only to say is thank God no one was killed.
Just to get a historic perspective on "slip slid'in away" in So. Cal.....
Historic Southern California Landslides
1928 St. Francis Dam failure
Los Angeles County, California. The dam gave way on March 12, and its waters swept through the Santa Clara Valley toward the Pacific Ocean, about 54 miles away. Sixty-five miles of valley was devastated, and over 500 people were killed. Damages were estimated at $672.1 million (year 2000 dollars).
1956 Portuguese Bend, California
Cost, $14.6 million (2000 dollars) California Highway 14, Palos Verdes Hills. Land use on the Palos Verdes Peninsula consists mostly of single-family homes built on large lots, many of which have panoramic ocean views. All of the houses were constructed with individual septic systems, generally consisting of septic tanks and seepage pits. Landslides have been active here for thousands of years, but recent landslide activity has been attributed in part to human activity. The Portuguese Bend landslide began its modern movement in August 1956, when displacement was noticed at its northeast margin. Movement gradually extended downslope so that the entire eastern edge of the slide mass was moving within 6 weeks. By the summer of 1957, the entire slide mass was sliding towards the sea.
1958-1971 Pacific Palisades, California
Cost, $29.1 million (2000 dollars) California Highway 1 and house damaged.
1961 Mulholland Cut, California
Cost, $41.5 million (2000 dollars) On Interstate 405, 11 miles north of Santa Monica, Los Angeles County.
1963 Baldwin Hills Dam Failure
On December 14, the 650 foot long by 155 foot high earth fill dam gave way and sent 360 million gallons of water in a fifty foot high wall cascading onto the community below, killing five persons, and damaging 50 million (1963 dollars) of dollars in property.
1969 Glendora, California
Cost, $26.9 million (2000 dollars) Los Angeles County, 175 houses damaged, mainly by debris flows.
1969 Seventh Ave., Los Angeles County, California
Cost, $14.6 million (2000 dollars) California Highway 60.
1970 Princess Park, California
Cost, $29.1 million (2000 dollars) California Highway 14, 10 miles north of Newhall, near Saugus, northern Los Angeles County.
1971 Upper and Lower Van Norman Dams, San Fernando, California
Earthquake-induced landslides Cost, $302.4 million (2000 dollars). Damage due to the February 9, 1971, magnitude 7.5 San Fernando, California, earthquake. The earthquake of February 9 severely damaged the Upper and Lower Van Norman Dams.
1971 Juvenile Hall, San Fernando, California
Landslides caused by the February 9, 1971, San Fernando, California, earthquake Cost, $266.6 million (2000 dollars). In addition to damaging the San Fernando Juvenile Hall, this 1.2 km-long slide damaged trunk lines of the Southern Pacific Railroad, San Fernando Boulevard, Interstate Highway 5, the Sylmar, California, electrical converter station, and several pipelines and canals.
1977-1980 Monterey Park, Repetto Hills, Los Angeles County, California
Cost, $14.6 million (2000 dollars) 100 houses damaged in 1980 due to debris flows.
1978 Bluebird Canyon Orange County
California October 2, cost, $52.7 million (2000 dollars) 60 houses destroyed or damaged. Unusually heavy rains in March of 1978 may have contributed to initiation of the landslide. Although the 1978 slide area was approximately 3.5 acres, it is suspected to be a portion of a larger, ancient landslide.
1979 Big Rock, California, Los Angeles County
Cost, approximately $1.08 billion (2000 dollars) California Highway 1 rockslide.
1980 Southern California slides
$1.1 billion in damage (2000 dollars) Heavy winter rainfall in 1979-90 caused damage in six Southern California counties. In 1980, the rainstorm started on February 8. A sequence of 5 days of continuous rain and 7 inches of precipitation had occurred by February 14. Slope failures were beginning to develop by February 15 and then very high-intensity rainfall occurred on February 16. As much as 8 inches of rain fell in a 6 hour period in many locations. Records and personal observations in the field on February 16 and 17 showed that the mountains and slopes literally fell apart on those 2 days.
1983 San Clemente, California, Orange County
Cost, $65 million (2000 dollars), California Highway 1. Litigation at that time involved approximately $43.7 million (2000 dollars).
1983 Big Rock Mesa, California
Cost, $706 million (2000 dollars) in legal claims condemnation of 13 houses, and 300 more threatened rockslide caused by rainfall.
1978-1979, 1980 San Diego County, California
Experienced major damage from storms in 1978, 1979, and 1979-80, as did neighboring areas of Los Angeles and Orange County, California. One hundred and twenty landslides were reported to have occurred in San Diego County during these 2 years. Rainfall for the rainy seasons of 78-79 and 79-80 was 14.82 and 15.61 inches (37.6 and 39.6 cm) respectively, compared to a 125-year average (1850-1975) of 9.71 inches (24.7 cm). Significant landslides occurred in the Friars Formation, a unit that was noted as slide-prone in the Seismic Safety Study for the City of San Diego. Of the nine landslides that caused damage in excess of $1 million, seven occurred in the Friars Formation, and two in the Santiago Formation in the northern part of San Diego County.
1994 Northridge, California earthquake landslides
As a result of the magnitude 6.7 Northridge, California, earthquake, more than 11,000 landslides occurred over an area of 10,000 km2. Most were in the Santa Susana Mountains and in mountains north of the Santa Clara River Valley. Destroyed dozens of homes, blocked roads, and damaged oil-field infrastructure. Caused deaths from Coccidioidomycosis (valley fever) the spore of which was released from the soil and blown toward the coastal populated areas. The spore was released from the soil by the landslide activity.
March 1995 Los Angeles and Ventura Counties, Southern California
Above normal rainfall triggered damaging debris flows, deep-seated landslides, and flooding. Several deep-seated landslides were triggered by the storms, the most notable was the La Conchita landslide, which in combination with a local debris flow, destroyed or badly damaged 11 to 12 homes in the small town of La Conchita, about 20 km west of Ventura. There also was widespread debris-flow and flood damage to homes, commercial buildings, and roads and highways in areas along the Malibu coast that had been devastated by wildfire 2 years before.
Rich morons building/buying houses built onto or on top of a ridge of dirt and sand scream Bloody Murder when their houses slide down the ridge.
I've no pity for them. Though I'm curiious to see if Ahhhnold will declare Laguna Beach a Disaster Area. Since the Quaint Little Community seems to have the wherewithal to rebuild. Or bull doze the area flat for overpriced condos and high rises.
Jack.