Ingram

Plaintiffs sued for damages to their properties, located in the City of Torrance, resulting when an earthen retaining wall of a drainage sump collapsed, allowing flood waters to go onto the properties and inundate plaintiffs’ homes.

The matter was tried to the court, on the issue of liability only. The court found for defendant. Plaintiffs appeal. We reverse.

The court found, inter alia, that “Plaintiffs failed to establish any liability on the part of defendant City of Redondo Beach for ‘inverse condemnation’ within the meaning of California Constitution Article I, Section 14; no damages to plaintiff occurred as a proximate result of any public improvement of defendant City of Redondo Beach as deliberately designed and constructed.” (Italics supplied.) The key question on this appeal is whether the court used the correct principle of law with respect to causal responsibility. It is here that we feel that error occurred.

Plaintiffs also suggest that the finding is not supported by the evidence. Their brief fails to support its references to the testimony by appropriate references to the record as required by rule 15, subdivision (a) and we decline to search the record.…