CAPITOLA - First came the flooding, now comes a flood of lawsuits.
The city of Capitola is defending itself in four lawsuits stemming from the flooding of Capitola Village on March 24. Plaintiffs have sued the county of Santa Cruz and the Santa Cruz County Flood Control and Sanitation District in three of those cases.
"Likely there will be other cases filed," said Dean Alper, a Greenbrae attorney representing Truck Insurance, which sued in January, and Foremost Insurance and Truck Insurance, which sued in February.
All of the lawsuits allege the flooding was due to city negligence in underground pipe maintenance that led to pipe blockage or failure.
In June, engineering firm URS Corp. of San Francisco, hired by the city, identified the "probable cause" of the storm system malfunction as the failure at the junction of a concrete culvert under Bay Avenue and a corrugated steel pipe under the city-owned Pacific Cove Mobile Home Park.
Once the pipe ruptured, water eroded the soil around the pipe creating a sinkhole directly under a mobile home. That sent torrents of water down Capitola Avenue and into the village. Cleanup was extensive, and village businesses were closed for a week or more.
However, the report left open the question of who or what entity is ultimately responsible.
Capitola renter Katie Saldana filed the first lawsuit in October.
In her lawsuit, filed by Capitola attorney John Hannon, she claims her rental was flooded and her personal property damaged. In moving this property back to her residence after it was moved to avoid further damage, she injured her shoulder, which necessitated surgery, and resulted in her losing time from work, according to the lawsuit. She is seeking an unspecified amount for damages to her property and for her injuries and loss of time from work.
Kevin Calvert, a dentist in San Jose, and his wife, Pamela, sued in December. They own a house on Lawn Way in Capitola Village "steps from the beach," according to a rental posting for summer vacationers.
By JONDI GUMZ - Santa Cruz Sentinel Heavy equipment is brought in to clean up Pacific Cove Mobile Home Park in March 2011. CAPITOLA - First came the flooding, now comes a flood of lawsuits. The city of Capitola is defending itself in four lawsuits
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