Landsliding and Flooding Cases Handled by Mr. Collins

Mr. Collins represented six homeowner families in a lawsuit against the County of Los Angeles and the City of Malibu in 1997. The families' homes were badly flooded by a nearby creek, which rampaged out of its bed after a landslide re-routed it. After five-years of litigation, Mr. Collins arranged a sliding-scale type settlement with the County. This eventually pressured the City to settle as well. The defendants paid a total of $6.195 million to the homeowners.

Landsliding

Mr. Collins represented two families of Malibu homeowners in a landslide case against the City of Malibu and the County waterworks district that settled for $700,000. The parties designated 18 expert witnesses in technical areas including soils engineering, structural engineering, metallurgy (for leaking pipes), and geology.

Flooding

Mr. Collins represented numerous homeowner families in two cases against the State of California involving flood damage at Pena Creek and Big Rock Creek in Malibu. The culverts under Pacific Coast Highway were too small to drain the land behind them, forcing water and sediment to wash out of the canyons, onto the highway, and into the plaintiffs' homes. The homes were invaded by as much as four feet of water and mud. In some cases, waves of mud crashed through the inland-facing walls of the homes and exited the opposite side of the home by smashing through plate glass doors, carrying the plaintiffs' sofas and coffee tables into the sea. The cases settled for over $11 million.