Hillside resident E.V. walks around his neighborhood Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2025, off Rambla Pacifico Street where most homes burned to the ground after the Palisades Fire.
Los Angeles, California – Two federal judges who lost their homes in the devastating January wildfire in Pacific Palisades have joined a growing lawsuit against the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP), alleging the utility’s negligence played a direct role in the disaster.
U.S. District Judge Dean Pregerson and former magistrate judge Vijay “Jay” Gandhi, affiliated with the Central District of California, filed the complaint last week in Los Angeles Superior Court with their families. They join more than 750 residents seeking compensation, accusing LADWP of failing to adequately prepare for and respond to the fast-moving blaze.
According to the suit, the wildfire was sparked and exacerbated by LADWP’s “water and power assets, specifically empty reservoirs and energized powerlines.” Citing a Los Angeles Times investigation, the complaint highlights that the utility’s Santa Ynez Reservoir in the Palisades was closed for repairs and sat empty during the critical firefight, severely hampering firefighting efforts.
“Despite dire warnings by the National Weather Service of a ‘Particularly Dangerous Condition-Red Flag Warning,’ of ‘critical fire weather,’ the LADWP was unprepared for the Palisades fire,” the complaint states.
A spokesperson for Munger, Tolles & Olson, the law firm representing LADWP in fire-related litigation, did not respond to a request for comment. The utility has maintained that it was adequately prepared, stating that no urban water system can handle a wildfire of the Palisades fire’s magnitude. It also argued that legal precedent protects water utilities and their ratepayers from liability in such disasters.
But Gandhi, who previously served as a mediator in wildfire cases involving Pacific Gas & Electric, disputes that claim. Speaking to the Los Angeles Daily News, he described the Palisades fire as a foreseeable event made worse by known infrastructure vulnerabilities.
“The city must stand up and claim responsibility and do right by the residents of the Palisades. That’s why I joined this battle,” Gandhi said. “This was a manifestation of risks that were widely known but ignored. And the city needs to acknowledge that, because it can’t happen again.”
The judges’ lawsuit has been consolidated with more than ten similar cases pending against LADWP. Plaintiffs argue that energized power lines during high winds caused secondary ignitions that worsened the fire’s spread. LADWP had long known about the risks of aging infrastructure and delayed repairs.
The complaint warns that the failure of one public utility system can trigger broader disasters, emphasizing the need for accountability and systemic change.
