DWP hires law firm, at up to $1,975 an hour, to defend against Palisades fire lawsuits
Faced with a deluge of litigation from the Palisades fire, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power approved a three-year, $10-million contract with a top law firm to defend the utility.
The Board of Water and Power, which is made up of mayoral appointees, voted Tuesday to retain the L.A. firm Munger, Tolles & Olson to investigate anticipated claims related to the fire and respond to lawsuits from residents whose homes were destroyed or damaged.
Under the deal, partners at the firm will charge the city up to $1,975 per hour for their legal work. Associates will bill from $745 to $1,180 per hour. A spokesperson for L.A. City Atty. Hydee Feldstein Soto said this "discounted rate structure" was among the factors that led to the selection of the firm.
The agreement was formally approved this week, but Munger, Tolles & Olson began representing the city on Jan. 12, five days after the Palisades fire broke out, destroying nearly 7,000 homes and other structures and killing at least 12.
The swift hiring of the law firm contrasts sharply with DWP's pace in finding a contractor to repair the Santa Ynez Reservoir, a 117-million-gallon water storage complex in the Palisades that was empty during the Palisades fire. Utility workers found a tear in the reservoir's floating cover in January 2024 and emptied it a few months later in preparation for repairs.
Why the reservoir was taken offline, and why it has remained out of service for so long, is likely to be a major part of Munger Tolles' work. DWP has pointed to the competitive bidding process for the repairs as among the reasons for the delay. The law firm is also expected to defend against claims about DWP's fire hydrants running dry.
Karen Richardson, another spokesperson for Feldstein Soto, said in an email that the law firm was retained for several reasons, including its specialized expertise and the DWP's "pressing need" for representation during an emergency. The city interviewed three law firms before selecting Munger Tolles, Richardson said.
In a memo discussing the firm's scope of work, DWP Chief Executive Janisse Quiñones and general counsel Benjamin Chapman noted that Munger, Tolles & Olson lawyers have handled lawsuits related to several large wildfires.
As part of the massive litigation from the 2023 fires in Maui, about 75 Munger Tolles staffers and lawyers helped represent Hawaiian Electric Industries and Hawaiian Electric Co., according to the law firm's website. Those lawsuits were ultimately settled for more than $4 billion, although the payouts have been held up after insurance companies opposed the deal.
Munger Tolles also represented Pacific Gas & Electric Co. in connection with the 2018 Camp fire, which destroyed the town of Paradise and left 84 people dead. PG&E ultimately pleaded guilty to 84 counts of involuntary manslaughter. Munger Tolles also represented the utility in regulatory matters and litigation arising from the fire.
In their memo, the DWP officials wrote that wildfires involving utilities "require aggressive and thorough investigation and defense on multiple fronts," with numerous claims brought by individuals and insurance companies. Seeking out significant prior experience, they wrote, was "proper and prudent."
Munger Tolles was also chosen because of its presence in L.A., Feldstein Soto spokesperson Ivor Pine said.
A spokesperson for the law firm, which also represents Southern California Edison, declined to comment, referring The Times to the city attorney's office.
Munger Tolles partner Daniel Levin will serve as the point person for day-to-day work on the DWP cases. He was part of the team defending the city of L.A. in a lawsuit that accused the city of creating affordable housing that was not accessible to people with disabilities.
That long-running suit was settled in August, with the city agreeing to pay $40 million. For that case, Munger Tolles partners billed $1,045 to $1,245 per hour, according to a 2024 rate sheet reviewed by The Times.
The city is expected to face hundreds, and potentially thousands, of claims from homeowners, businesses and insurance companies over the Palisades fire. So far, at least five lawsuits with more than three dozen plaintiffs, including reality TV stars Heidi Montag and Spencer Pratt, have been filed against the city in L.A. County Superior Court.
The lawsuits are alleging "inverse condemnation," which allows landowners to pursue compensation when damage to their property is caused by public use. In these cases, the homeowners are tracing the fire damage to DWP.
Those who lost homes or businesses in the Eaton fire are suing Southern California Edison under the same concept. Plaintiffs have accused Southern California Edison of sparking the Eaton fire with its equipment, but the DWP's electrical equipment has not been implicated in the Palisades fire.
The suits against DWP generally allege that "improper design, installation, construction, ownership, operation" or maintenance of the water system in the Palisades caused or worsened the damage from the fire. They also focus on the fact that scores of hydrants went dry as firefighters battled the Palisades fire.
The DWP has maintained that its water system was built according to city standards and that only one-fifth of hydrants in the Palisades, largely in higher-elevation areas, lost water pressure. DWP officials said that they were required to empty the reservoir to comply with water quality regulations — and that the repair process was prolonged by the city's competitive bidding process and the availability of the contractor who was eventually retained to carry out the work.
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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
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