Santa Barbara City and County Part of $360 Million Edison Settlement
Utility Settles 2017-2018 SoCal Fire and Mudflow Lawsuits with Public Entities
Southern California Edison settled public-entity fire claims today for $360 million, including lawsuits brought by Santa Barbara agencies for the Thomas Fire and the 1/9 Debris Flow. Altogether, the settlement incorporates lawsuits filed by 23 public agencies — including Montecito’s water and fire districts, the city and county of Santa Barbara, the county’s Flood Control District, and Carpinteria Fire — for the two local disasters as well as the Woolsey and Koenigstein fires.
The settlement is, in principle, contingent on assent from the various agencies involved. The lawsuits brought by individual plaintiffs and businesses against the utilities are not affected by this settlement.
The County of Santa Barbara expects to get about $50 million of the total, County Counsel Mike Ghizzoni said. About $29 million of that goes toward the county’s costs for Thomas and the debris flow, while the rest would reimburse the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the state Office of Emergency Services, which quickly underwrote the county’s efforts and sent emergency workers and trucks at the height of the emergency: “I have nothing but praise for FEMA and CalOES,” Ghizzoni said, citing their daily availability to discuss needs.
