San Diego is paying out $850,000 to four families whose Rancho Peñasquitos properties were damaged by a 2020 landslide the families blame on leaking city water pipes.
The payout is far less than the $12 million the families sought when they sued the city in August 2020, four month after the April landslide.
City officials deny that a water leak caused the landslide, contending that improper grading of the properties caused a similar landslide in 2005 and that the grading has never been properly repaired by the property owners.
City officials also note that the landslide followed heavy rains in March and April that year, making a leak in city water pipes unlikely to be a primary cause.
The City Council is scheduled to approve the payout Tuesday in open session. The council approved the payout Oct. 16 in a session closed to the public.
The settlement prompted Superior Court Judge James Mangione to cancel a trial in the case he had scheduled for Dec. 15.
The four homes are on Paseo Zaldivar, just south of Mt. Carmel High School.
The plaintiffs who will share in the payout are Kristopher Fukuda and Susan Wou-Fukuda, Jiang Xin, Timothy and Yuki Rosenkoetter, and Dan and Stephanie Steinke.
Loren Shiu, the attorney for all the plaintiffs, didn’t respond to requests for comment.
