RULING BLOW TO BATTERED TOWN; LA CONCHITA RESIDENTS FEAR IT MAY COST HOMES.Byline: Don Holland Daily News Staff Writer Nearly four years after a landslide devastated dev·as·tate tr.v. dev·as·tat·ed, dev·as·tat·ing, dev·as·tates 1. To lay waste; destroy. 2. To overwhelm; confound; stun: was devastated by the rude remark. the tiny seaside community of La Conchita, 146 property owners Friday lost their multimillion-dollar lawsuit blaming the slide on excessive irrigation irrigation, in agriculture, artificial watering of the land. Although used chiefly in regions with annual rainfall of less than 20 in. (51 cm), it is also used in wetter areas to grow certain crops, e.g., rice. from a nearby ranch. One week after hearing closing statements in the La Conchita lawsuit, Superior Court Judge Henry Walsh ruled that La Conchita Ranch Co. was not responsible for the March 4, 1995, disaster that destroyed nine homes and crushed property values. In his ruling, Walsh wrote that, taken alone, both sides were credible, but that the defense's case was more convincing. ``I'm still in shock,'' said plaintiff Don Lee, whose $300,000 home is now valued at a mere $19,000. ``I've talked to a few people and they don't know Don't know (DK, DKed) "Don't know the trade." A Street expression used whenever one party lacks knowledge of a trade or receives conflicting instructions from the other party. what they're going to do. They're just stumped.'' Lee predicted that many property owners will walk away from their homes rather than continue paying mortgages that far exceed the depreciated Depreciated may refer to:
``Now they're just going to end up losing their homes,'' said Lee, who attended the trial every day since it began Nov. 17. ``So I guess this place will eventually just turn into a ghost town ghost town, term for any once flourishing American community that has been abandoned, generally for economic reasons. While most of the towns have little or no population, they often contain old buildings, which may serve as tourist attractions. .'' Frank Sabaitis, the lead attorney for the ranch, was pleased with the ruling. ``The ranch is relieved, and they feel a tremendous sense of vindication because we knew all along that the irrigation practices didn't have anything to do with the landslide,'' Sabaitis said. ``They're very gratified grat·i·fy tr.v. grat·i·fied, grat·i·fy·ing, grat·i·fies 1. To please or satisfy: His achievement gratified his father. See Synonyms at please. 2. . They feel a lot of comfort that the system works and the truth prevailed.'' The 146 La Conchita property owners sought $16 million in damages and $8 million to clean up and stabilize the hillside. The homeowners also sought to prevent the ranch from irrigating some 600 acres of avocado and citrus groves. A similar lawsuit filed by a different group of property owners previously was settled out of court for an undisclosed sum. With no chance in sight that the hillside will ever be stabilized, Lee said he is worried that additional irrigation will devastate dev·as·tate tr.v. dev·as·tat·ed, dev·as·tat·ing, dev·as·tates 1. To lay waste; destroy. 2. To overwhelm; confound; stun: was devastated by the rude remark. the town, which has already endured too much. A stunned Lee pondered his options as the sun edged toward the horizon. ``A lot of people have told me they're just going to leave their homes,'' Lee said. ``I'm not going to make my house payment this month. And I know that the bank is going to contact me. I'm going to have to tell them, Hey, you Hey, You is the debut EP of Japanese band Mono. Track listing
want the house, take it. Maybe, just maybe I'll be able to work something out with the bank. But I doubt it.'' |
|
||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion