Reality TV stars Heidi Montag and Spencer Pratt have launched legal action against Los Angeles city officials after their Pacific Palisades residence was destroyed in the recent Southern California wildfires.
The former stars of The Hills—a spinoff of Laguna Beach—filed their lawsuit Tuesday (Jan. 21, 2025) alongside over twenty other property owners and residents affected by the Palisades Fire. Their legal complaint blames Los Angeles and its water department for inadequate water supplies that hindered firefighting efforts and caused extensive property damage.
The devastating Eaton and Palisades fires, sparked by powerful winds during one of the area’s most severe droughts, have claimed 28 lives and decimated more than 16,000 structures, according to Cal Fire, marking them as some of California’s most catastrophic blazes.
The city faces mounting criticism over non-functioning hydrants and insufficient water pressure, triggering numerous lawsuits against municipal authorities and the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power. California Gov. Gavin Newsom has demanded an independent probe into the LA water utility’s operations.
The legal filing reveals that the Santa Ynez Reservoir, which supplies the Pacific Palisades area, had been inactive since February 2024 pending maintenance. According to the complaint, citing Janisse Quiñones, the water utility’s chief executive and chief engineer, the neighborhood’s hydrants were linked to three tanks—each holding 1 million gallons—that emptied within 12 hours.
The complaint states that without the reservoir’s water supply, firefighters had to depend on water tanks that weren’t built to combat such an extensive blaze.
City officials and water utility representatives haven’t yet responded to requests for comment via email.
Though maintenance requests for the reservoir were submitted in January 2024, the water utility informed the Los Angeles Times that repairs wouldn’t be finished until April or May 2025.
The lawsuit characterizes the Palisades Fire as an “inescapable and unavoidable consequence” of the water infrastructure managed by city authorities and the utility.
“The system necessarily failed, and this failure was a substantial factor in causing Plaintiffs to suffer the losses alleged in this complaint,” it said.
The plaintiffs are invoking “inverse condemnation,” the same legal principle that holds utilities financially responsible for wildfire damage caused by their equipment.
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