“The Hills” stars Spencer Pratt and Heidi Montag, along with other Pacific Palisades property owners, have sued the city of Los Angeles and its Department of Water and Power over damages caused by the Palisades fire.
The costume, examined by Varietywas filed Tuesday in Los Angeles County Superior Court. It alleges that the city’s water system failed because it was not designed to fight severe wildfires.
The plaintiffs, who are over 20 years old, are seeking an unspecified amount of property damage compensation in a “reverse condemnation” claim. To prevail, they will have to show that the city’s operation of the water system caused damage to their property.
Pratt previously shared that his own home and his parents’ home burned in the Palisades fire. The complaint cites reports that the local Santa Ynez Reservoir was drained and offline for repairs in the weeks before the fire.
The status of the Santa Ynez Reservoir has sparked public and political interest in the wake of the Palisades Fire, with Gov. Gavin Newsom launching an investigation into the loss of water pressure at fire hydrants. Several officials said the hydrants would have proven more operable if the reservoir held water, although it was unclear how much, if any, property damage could have been mitigated.
The new case represents the latest reverse condemnation trial emerging from those affected by the Los Angeles-area wildfires, which experts project to be the costliest in American history.
Several cases have been filed by victims of the Eaton Fire, which broke out east of Los Angeles shortly after the Palisades Fire and continues to burn. The lawsuits allege that poorly maintained transmission towers owned by the power company, Southern California Edison, were the cause of the fire. The cause of both fires remains under investigation.
Pratt and Montag, who married in 2008, have been very public about how the fires have affected them since the evacuation in early January. In an interview VarietyPratt explained how he encourages the public to stream Montag’s music as a way to bring in extra income. He also revealed discussions for a reality TV series that would chronicle the process of rebuilding the community.
“I know people are like, ‘You’re rich, you’ll be fine.’ Yeah, I wish so. Everything in our house was paid for by Heidi and I’m hustling anyway,” he wrote on TikTok at the time. “Everything we worked on was in this house…we’re starting from scratch now.”
