Falling tree that killed grandmother during wedding to cost California city $28 million
.jpg "The city of Whittier has reached a tentative settlement with a family after a tree fell on them at Penn Park.")
A California city has tentatively agreed to a $28 million settlement with a San Pedro family after a 70-foot tree fell on them while taking wedding photos and killed one of their relatives, according to court filings in Los Angeles County.
In 2016, the family was taking wedding photos in Penn Park in Whittier, California, when the Blue Gum Eucalyptus tree fell “suddenly and without notice ... causing catastrophic injury and death,” the documents state. While the city plans to settle with the family, the case of the other defendant, West Coast Arborists, which contracted with the city “to inspect and trim its trees,” is still active.
The bride’s mother, Margarita Mojarro, was killed in the accident, according to court documents. The tree’s collapse also resulted in the permanent brain damage of a 3-year-old.
“The total settlement amount resolved 19 individual claims against the City of Whittier,” plaintiffs’ attorney Brian Leinbach told McClatchy News.
The suit, which was filed in 2017, holds that the tree’s falling was “entirely avoidable.”
“[The] city had no policy or procedure in place to inspect the health of its trees and failed to notice open and obvious evidence that the subject tree was in serious decline and was in fact dying prior to it uprooting,” the documents state. “Moreover the inspection of the remnants of the subject tree demonstrates that the open and obvious defects in the tree existed more than ten years prior to the complete failure of the ... tree.”
The complaint said the tree was overwatered and standing at a dangerous 20% grade, the Whittier Daily News reported.
A city park manager “flagged” a phenomenon known as “Included Trunk” in another tree and “made arrangements for its removal,” according to documents. “This is precisely what should have been done in this case,” attorneys said.
“All competent arborists know that Included Trunk can and does lead to the structural defects,” the court papers say. “Included Trunk funnels fungal contamination and breeds rot in the root system below. The roots on the...tree were essentially non-functional and dead - an accident waiting to happen.”
The motion says a tree pathologist hired by the plaintiffs “will testify that over 90% of the roots were dead and the rot and decay on and in the ... tree existed and were observable at inspection...for five years (root defect) and eight to ten years (decay column).”
After settlement discussions failed in 2019, the parties ultimately decided to mediate and the city agreed to pay the family $28 million “as to all plaintiffs,” documents state.
“There is no amount of money that can bring back family members or heal the damage that was done,” Leinbach said, according to the Los Angeles Times. “But they are pleased to put this tragic event behind them, and they feel good about that.”
The ruling on the settlement is scheduled for Oct. 23, the documents state.
The city of Whittier did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
This story was originally published October 21, 2020 at 12:10 PM.