Ben Crump filed the suit on Wednesday on behalf of Evelyn Cathirell, one of 17 people who died in the Eaton fire in Altadena, an unincorporated area north of Pasadena with a significant Black population.
What You Need to Know
- Crump joins several big-name plaintiffs’ lawyers who have already filed 13 lawsuits against Southern California Edison over the Eatonfire, one of several wildfires that have destroyed about 10,000 structures in the Los Angeles area in the past week.
- Other firms that have filed suits include Edelson, Baron & Buddand Engstrom, Lipscomb & Lack.
- The suits are not class actions but name several plaintiffs at a time, most with homes or businesses destroyed or damaged.
Ben Crump filed the first wrongful death lawsuit to come out of the Los Angeles wildfires, which have so far killed at least 25 people.
Crump, of Ben Crump Law in Tallahassee, Florida, joins several big-name plaintiffs’ lawyers who have already filed at least 14 lawsuits against Southern California Edison over the Eaton fire, one of several wildfires that have destroyed about 10,000 structures in the Los Angeles area in the past week, according to data from Law.com Radar. Other firms include Edelson, Baron & Budd and Engstrom, Lipscomb & Lack. Crump’s lawsuit was filed on behalf of Evelyn Cathirell, the mother of Evelyn McClendon, who was one of 17 people who died in the Eaton fire.
“We don’t take it lightly: This responsibility of making sure that this Blackangel, Evelyn McClendon, gets full justice and accountability,” Crump said at a press conference on Wednesday. “We don’t want anybody to marginalize her. We don’t want anybody to shortchange her.”
McClendon was survived by her mother and her brother, who lived next door. Her final hours, the lawsuit says, were “filled with chaos and panic.”
“The surroundings were straight out of a disaster movie with embers blowing freely in the wind, spot fires sprouting up in all directions, and a ceaseless wind,” the suit says.
She was among the largely Black residents of Altadena, the unincorporated area of Los Angeles County north of Pasadena that was devastated by the Eaton fire. Much of that community was built on generational wealth, Crump said.
“Many times, that was all we had to leave our children,” he said.
On Thursday, San Diego-basedSingleton Schreiber filed another lawsuit against Edison in partnership with the NationalAssociation for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) on behalf of Eric Malone and his family members, whose home was destroyed in the Eaton fire.
“We are heartbroken and devastated by the many tragedies caused by the California fires,” Derrick Johnson, NAACP president and CEO, said in a prepared statement. “For over a century, the NAACP has shown up for our community in times of crisis, and this is no exception. Altadena—a community deeply rooted in Black history and homeownership—deserves justice.”
Lawsuits Aren’t Class Actions
As other lawsuits have alleged, Crump’s complaint, which was joined by Andrews & Thornton in Newport Beach, California, claims Southern California Edison and its parent company, Edison International, failed to de-energize all its transmission towers or clear vegetation in the days before anticipated Santa Winds, which reached 100 miles per hour the night of the Eaton fire.
The other dozen suits against Edison bring claims on behalf of homeowners or renters whose houses or businesses were destroyed or significantly damaged. They note that Edison has $1 billion in wildfire insurance. Most of the plaintiffs’ firms have been involved in previous wildfire litigation against Edison, Pacific Gas & Electric or other utilities in Oregon, Colorado or Hawaii.
In the past week, many have hosted town halls or handed out fliers advertising their services in the Pasadena area for anyone with property and smoke damage, pet or livestock injuries, evacuation costs and wrongful death. Many complaints cite witness accounts from area residents and feature cell phone images of the fire’s Jan. 7 origins, which they blame on Edison’s transmission towers.
The suits are not class actions but name several plaintiffs at a time. One case was brought on behalf of 67 residents of Altadena. Jerry Singleton, of San Singleton Schreiber, which has been hosting town halls this week, said he expected hundreds of similar suits.
“Class actions are designed when you have low damages and substantial similarity of damages, and here you have neither,” Singleton said. He noted that the damages are too different from one another: One house might have survived, while another right next to it doesn’t.
“One person is going to have a claim for evacuation, cost to clean up soot and ash, that might cost $50,000,” he added. “The other person lost everything and had no insurance and has a $2 million claim.”
Note: Bronstad is an Edison customer impacted by the Eaton fire.
