Property owners whose homes or business were damaged in May are suing the famed California resort, now owned by Omni, alleging that it should be held responsible for the destructive wildfire that is suspected to have been started by an accident near the 7th fairway. But a fire chief says the investigation into the cause is at a standstill and may never yield an answer.
About two dozen property owners whose homes or businesses were damaged in May by what has become known as the Poinsettia fire are suing the Omni La Costa Resort & Spa in Carlsbad, Calif., the San Diego Union-Tribune reported. The lawsuit alleges that the resort’s ownership should be held responsible for the destruction from the blaze, because authorities believe the fire started on the resort property.
Investigators still say they don’t know exactly what sparked the blaze, the Union-Tribune reported, but that they think it began by accident on or near the golf course’s 7th fairway, which borders Poinsettia Lane. An exact cause may never be found, the city’s fire chief told the Union-Tribune on October 14.
“All leads have been followed up and the cause remains undetermined,” Chief Mike Davis said. “We’re at a standstill in our investigation; we just can’t find anything that pinpoints a cause.”
The lawsuit, filed in San Diego Superior Court, asserts that golf course employees or equipment likely started the fire, which eventually destroyed five homes, 18 apartment units and one commercial building when freak Santa Ana winds blew into the county on May 14, the Union-Tribune reported. The Poinsettia fire was among several wildfires that broke out around San Diego’s North County that day.
The lawsuit does not specifically say what was done wrong by golf course employees, the Union-Tribune reported, but instead speaks in generalities.
“Defendant Omni … caused the fire, and allowed it to spread to neighboring properties … by negligently and carelessly operating its equipment, failing to properly maintain its real property, and failing to act as a reasonable prudent person would act under the same or similar circumstances,” the suit alleges.
Attorney Gerald Singleton, whose Solana Beach, Calif. firm specializes in fire litigation, told the Union-Tribune that “at this point, all we can say is we think it was caused by either the maintenance personnel or by the equipment.” The fire might have been sparked by carbon deposits out of an exhaust pipe, by a lawn mower, “or by any number of things,” Singleton added.
Fire investigators found metal shavings near where the fire started, suggesting that a backfire from a gas-powered vehicle might have been the cause, Singleton noted.
The next move in the case, Singleton told the Union-Tribune, will be for all sides, including attorneys for various insurance companies trying to recoup losses, to meet on December 11 to inspect equipment and review all the evidence. The lawsuit was filed to help expedite that process, Singleton said, explaining that
the longer it takes before interviews are conducted and evidence is inspected, the more difficult a case becomes.
The lawsuit says that, given the Santa Ana conditions that existed that morning, golf course employees should have been aware of the heightened fire danger and acted accordingly, the Union-Tribune reported. The suit states that the resort failed to operate and maintain its mechanized equipment, such as golf carts and lawn mowers, in such a manner as to avoid exposing the community to an unnecessary risk of fire.
The suit also claims the course failed to “design, construct, monitor, and maintain its real property in a manner that avoids igniting fires during fire-prone weather conditions.”
In an interview with San Diego’s ABC 10 television station, Singleton said, “There’s certainly a strong indication that there may have been some negligence, but if we look at it and it turns out that they did absolutely nothing wrong, then we’ll dismiss the suit and that’s that.”
ABC 10 also interviewed one of the plaintiffs in the case, Greg Saska, who lost his home. “The lawsuit is definitely in order if faulty equipment caused the fire,” said Saska, who now lives in the only structure left standing on his property, a garage.
Richard Moreno, a Los Angeles attorney representing Omni, told the Union-Tribune that the company had yet to be served with the lawsuit and that he couldn’t comment. Omni bought the resort in 2013.
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