Lawsuits from 2010 Rains Abound

The ramifications of  linger on, as two married couples are suing a neighbor and the city for damage the floodwaters caused to their home.

Now comes a civil engineering firm which may also sue the city.

Julie and Gary Johnson and Thomas and Donna McDonald, who all live on a side street off of Camino La Ronda, filed separate lawsuits in September against the city and Nancy and Paul St. Pierre, who live one street over and topographically above their property.

“Water, mud, rocks and other debris flowed from the St. Pierre property and adjacent property [owned by the city] during a storm and invaded the Johnson’s home and other areas in the subject property,” the Johnson’s lawsuit states. “The drainage system should have diverted such water, mud, rocks and other debris away from the subject property and into the drainage ditch and channel located on Camino La Ronda.”

The lawsuit is seeking “in excess of $25,000,” it says.

Meanwhile, the St. Pierres are counter-suing and have named the city and a civil engineering firm, Robin B. Hamers & Associates of Irvine, as defendants.

So the firm has filed a claim of its own against the city, often a precursor to a lawsuit, because it has been sued “for claims arising out of the acts/omissions of the city,” according to a document the City Council will review at its Tuesday meeting.

The city’s insurance adjuster has recommended the council deny the claim.

Also on the agenda Tuesday is:

• A presentation from the Orange County Transportation Authority regarding various projects in the city
• A resolution that the council will abide by the state’s open-meeting laws,
• A proposal to form an “aesthetics team” that would work with the Orange County Transportation Authority on new I-5 sound walls proposed as part of a project to widen the freeway and extend the carpool lanes south to San Clemente. The new walls could be as high as 24 feet in part. One, currently proposed at 10 feet, would be placed near the .

The City Council meets at 6 p.m. Tuesday at , 32400 Paseo Adelanto in San Juan Capsitrano.