Insurance Pool Sues Edison Over Money Paid to School District

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LOS ANGELES (CNS) - An insurance pool filed court papers against Southern California Edison Co. today, seeking reimbursement of more than $800,000 the nonprofit paid to the Monrovia Unified School District after several MUSD  buildings were damaged during the 2020 Bobcat Fire.

The still-unofficial Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuit brought by the Alliance of Schools for Cooperative Insurance Programs alleges negligence and trespass on the part of Edison, noting that the utility stated in a letter last October to the Public Utilities Commission that SCE was investigating whether vegetation had come into contact with a conductor and started the blaze last Sept. 6.

ASCIP, a joint powers authority, is seeking $803,730 in damages. An SCE representative did not immediately reply to a request for comment.

The Bobcat Fire started at Cogswell Dam on the West Fork of the San Gabriel River, burned about 116,000 acres and destroyed at least 170 homes.

The MUSD buildings damaged in the fire included the district office, the maintenance and operations office and Clifton, Mayflower, Plymouth and Wildrose Elementary Schools; Santa Fe Computer Magnet School; Monrovia and Canyon Oaks High Schools; and Monrovia Community Adult Schools, according to ASCIP's court papers.

SCE was on “heightened awareness'' of a possible fire because of the existence of a red flag warning and the condition of Edison's electrical infrastructure, yet did not de-energize any of its circuits, ASCIP's court papers state.

Copyright 2021, City News Service, Inc.


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