Cairns

Introduction

Plaintiffs’ homes in the City of Malibu were damaged by the Malibu fire of November 1993. Following plaintiffs’ numerous attempts to plead causes of action for damages against the City of Malibu (City) and County of Los Angeles (County) despite statutory governmental immunity for failure to provide fire protection service (Gov. Code, §§ 850, 850.2, 850.4), the trial court sustained, without leave to amend, City’s and County’s demurrers to plaintiffs’ sixth amended complaints, and entered judgments of dismissal. We affirm based on governmental immunity.

Factual and Procedural Background

Procedural

Three similarly situated plaintiffs (Glenn Cairns, Leonard Chudacoff, and Herta Heil) were represented by the same attorneys below, and their sixth amended complaints were identical in pertinent respects. The actions were consolidated below. City and County filed separate demurrers contending the operative complaints failed to state a cause of action based, in part, on governmental immunity. The trial court ruled that plaintiffs’ asserted causes of action based on dangerous condition of public property or nuisance were in reality for failure to provide fire…