City of Los Angeles v. Shpegel-Dimsey, Inc.

Introduction

Plaintiff City of Los Angeles appeals from a judgment entered in favor of defendant Shpegel-Dimsey, Inc.

Statement of Facts

Defendant does business as Pioneer Plastics at several adjacent premises in Los Angeles. The premises are used primarily for the conversion of scrap plastic into plastic pellets by a process known as extrusion. Defendant maintains large indoor and outdoor storage areas for scrap plastic materials.

Plaintiff’s Fire Code contains a number of regulations detailing the requirements for the storage of combustible materials, including plastics, both indoors and outdoors. During a 10-year period running through May 1980, defendant received approximately 55 citations for violations of the Fire Code; during the same period, 3 fires ignited on defendant’s premises.

Defendant was aware of the Fire Code violations and generally neglected or refused to correct the cited conditions. Specifically, defendant received notice on March 27, 1980, of several Fire Code violations, including the violation of section 57.57.20, which governs the outdoor storage of combustible materials such as defendant’s scrap plastic. The notice described with…