SIDES UPBEAT AS LANDSLIDE SUIT GOES TO JUDGE.Byline: Don Holland Daily News Staff Writer Attorneys in the La Conchita landslide landslide, rapid slipping of a mass of earth or rock from a higher elevation to a lower level under the influence of gravity and water lubrication. More specifically, rockslides are the rapid downhill movement of large masses of rock with little or no hydraulic flow, lawsuit made their closing statements Friday as dozens of La Conchita residents filled the courtroom for the culmination of the multi-million dollar case which got under way seven weeks ago. Frank Sabaitis, an attorney for La Conchita Ranch Co., said the March 4, 1995, landslide that destroyed nine homes and crushed property values, was the result of ancient geological forces - not 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 his clients' ranch that overlooks the small seaside community. ``The (homeowners) have a position that is a shallow, unscientific unscientific Unproven, see there attempt to prove their case. It's superficial,'' Sabaitis told Superior Court Judge Henry Walsh. ``This landslide was not unexpected in geological time. It's a continuation of a natural, geologic process Noun 1. geologic process - (geology) a natural process whereby geological features are modified geological process geology - a science that deals with the history of the earth as recorded in rocks .'' A group of 146 La Conchita property owners are seeking $16 million in damages. The homeowners are seeking another $8 million to clean up and stabilize the hillside. They are also seeking to prevent the ranch from irrigating some 600 acres of avocado avocado (ä`vəkä`do, ăv`–), tropical American broad-leaved evergreen tree of the genus Persea of the family Lauraceae (laurel family). and citrus groves. The judge is expected to rule on the cause of the landslide next week. If he finds the ranch at fault, a damages trial will follow. ``To me, it's a slam dunk,'' said plaintiff Don Lee, who has seen his property value plummet from roughly $300,000 before the slide to a mere $19,000. ``Who knows what the judge is going to decide. But based on the preponderance of the evidence preponderance of the evidence n. the greater weight of the evidence required in a civil (non-criminal) lawsuit for the trier of fact (jury or judge without a jury) to decide in favor of one side or the other. , from what I've seen and heard, we're going to win this phase of it.'' During Friday's closing statements, Sabaitis said that instead of contributing to soil saturation, the trees drank up all of the water applied through irrigation as well as moisture in the soil from rainfall. This is the second lawsuit stemming from the La Conchita landslide. In 1997, more than 100 property owners agreed to an out-of-court settlement An agreement reached between the parties in a pending lawsuit that resolves the dispute to their mutual satisfaction and occurs without judicial intervention, supervision, or approval. for an undisclosed sum. The current case will have a major impact on the community. If the homeowners win, the ranch must pay to stabilize the hill and clean up debris left over from the landslide. The ranch could also be ordered to halt all irrigation. ``If they decide in favor of the ranch, it's going to change the face of La Conchita,'' said Lee. ``Because you have a lot of people in there who still owe money on their homes - some people a lot of money - and they're not going to continue to pay on their homes when they're not worth anything. So they face either (abandoning their property and) being sued by their bank, or they face foreclosure foreclosure Legal proceeding by which a borrower's rights to a mortgaged property may be extinguished if the borrower fails to live up to the obligations agreed to in the loan contract. .'' |
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