The mother of a woman killed in the Eaton Fire in the Los Angeles area on Friday sued Southern California Edison (SCE) in what may be the first wrongful-death lawsuit brought against an electric utility. related to the accident.
Several fires that started and spread quickly across Los Angeles during strong Santa Ana windstorms last week have killed more than two dozen people and burned nearly 16,200 hectares of the second-largest metro area. in the US to kill.
Although official investigators have not released the cause of the Eaton Fire near Pasadena, California, SCE has filed a growing number of lawsuits alleging that the facility's equipment it fueled the primal flames.
Altadena resident Evelyn Cathirell sued SCE for wrongful death after the remains of her daughter, Evelyn “Petey” McClendon, were found in their shared home after it was destroyed by fire.
“Petey's final hours were filled with chaos and panic,” said the lawsuit, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court. “The environment was straight out of a blockbuster movie.” -a disaster with embankments blowing freely in the wind, spot fires appearing in all directions, and a relentless wind.”
Multiple lawsuits filed
Cathirell's lawsuit follows several lawsuits filed against SCE this week by residents and business owners whose properties were destroyed.
Late Thursday night, attorneys for a woman who lost her home in the Los Angeles-area Eaton Fire filed an emergency request for SCE to preserve additional electrical equipment for examination in fire investigations, according to filings court
Evangeline Iglesias, who is among those suing SCE after her Altadena home was burned in the inferno, asked the Los Angeles Superior Court to stop SCE's efforts to replace some distribution lines and destroyed other electrical equipment in the firing range, according to court documents.
A spokesperson for SCE said that the company aims to restore power to the affected areas. The company said it is aware of lawsuits related to the Eaton Fire and will review them.
SCE, which is a major subsidiary of Edison International, previously said it retained some power equipment for examination in fire investigations.
The law firm representing Iglesias, Edelson PC, said in the filings that SCE told the company in letters that it planned to remove the company's power infrastructure soon unless notified. them especially what equipment to keep.
That particular standard, Edelson said in his urgent request to the court, was unreasonable, “especially where most or all of the evidence is with SCE and where SCE has special knowledge of the origin and distribution the fire,” the footage showed.
Multiple investigations into the cause of the Eaton and Palisades fires – the two most destructive fires in California – are ongoing.
