Simple Avo Paradise Ranch, LLC v. Southern Cal. Edison Co.

INTRODUCTION

This case arises from the 2017 Thomas Fire in Southern California and is one of the hundreds of lawsuits coordinated in proceedings involving three plaintiff groups.1 Defendant and appellant Southern California Edison Company (SCE) appeals from a stipulated judgment entered in favor of plaintiff and respondent Simple Avo Paradise Ranch, LLC (Simple Avo), a member of the individual plaintiff group. Before Simple Avo filed the present lawsuit, as further explained below, the trial court had previously overruled SCE’s demurrer to the cause of action for inverse condemnation in the master complaints filed by each of the plaintiff groups. Simple Avo did not itself file any of the master complaints in this action, nor did it participate in the briefing or argument on SCE’s demurrer before the trial court. Rather, Simple Avo checked a box on a form complaint indicating the causes of action it asserted and acceded to the trial court’s demurrer ruling. Simple Avo and SCE subsequently settled for an undisclosed amount and entered into a stipulated judgment whereby SCE would pay $1.75 million to Simple Avo on the inverse condemnation claim, subject to SCE’s appeal of the…