LOS ANGELES — Reality television duo Heidi Montag and Spencer Pratt have initiated legal action against the city of Los Angeles after their Pacific Palisades home was destroyed by recent wildfires sweeping through Southern California.
The couple, known for their appearances on “The Hills,” a spin-off series of “Laguna Beach,” filed a lawsuit on Tuesday alongside over 20 other affected residents and property owners due to the Palisades Fire. The lawsuit holds the city and its municipal water department accountable for the water-related issues that impeded firefighting efforts, leading to significant property damage.
The recent Eaton and Palisades fires, which were exacerbated by strong winds in one of the driest seasons on record, have resulted in the tragic loss of 28 lives and the destruction of over 12,000 buildings, marking these events as some of the most catastrophic wildfires in California’s history.
A wave of lawsuits has emerged in response to reports of fire hydrants running dry and inadequate water pressure during the emergencies. This scrutiny has prompted California Governor Gavin Newsom to demand an independent investigation into the Los Angeles water utility’s operations during the crisis.
In their lawsuit, the plaintiffs point out that the Santa Ynez Reservoir—a crucial water source for the Pacific Palisades area—has been offline for repairs since February 2024. They highlighted that the neighborhood’s fire hydrants were reliant on three water tanks, each containing 1 million gallons, which were depleted within a mere 12 hours, as noted by Janisse Quiñones, the chief executive and chief engineer of the water utility.
Due to the reservoir’s unavailability, firefighters were forced to depend on the water tanks, which were insufficiently equipped for fighting a fire of this magnitude. The legal complaint emphasized that this lack of adequate water supply from the reservoir impeded effective firefighting efforts.
Responses from the city and the water utility regarding the lawsuit are still pending, having not been immediately available following requests for comment. While repair requests for the reservoir were made in January 2024, the water utility indicated that the necessary work would not be completed until April or May 2025.
The lawsuit characterizes the Palisades Fire as an “inescapable and unavoidable consequence” of the city’s water system failures. The legal documents assert that “the system necessarily failed, and this failure was a substantial factor in causing Plaintiffs to suffer the losses alleged in this complaint.”
In their claims, the plaintiffs invoke the legal concept of “inverse condemnation,” which obliges utility companies to compensate for damages caused by their infrastructure in wildfires.
