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CAPITOLA, Calif. -- Nearly a year after flood waters ripped through the City of Capitola damaging homes and businesses, residents and the city want compensation.
Six lawsuits were filed against the City of Capitola, Santa Cruz County and Santa Cruz County Flood Control and Water Conservation District. Homeowners, business owners and even some insurance agencies are suing for anything between $5,000 to $250,000 dollars.
Right behind the lawsuits are about 52 Tort Claims, which give Capitola and Santa Cruz County a chance to settle the claim before it becomes a lawsuit. We asked City Attorney John Barisone if Capitola can afford to fight and payout these lawsuits.
"We are fortunate we are in a self-insurance pool and it functions like an insurance company. So these claims have been tendered to our self-insurance joint powers agency, and those claims will be handled and settled and adjusted," said Capitola City Attorney John Barisone.
While the city's insurance company is taking care of those claims, Capitola is having a problem of its own. Barisone said the city had property damage worth over a million dollars; its insurance company isn't covering.
"We've hired an attorney to deal with the insurance company at this time. They said that we did not have coverage because we sustained flood damage. It's our position that a pipe failed. And if the pipe had not failed, there wouldn't have been this water damage," said Barisone.
If Capitola and its insurance agency can't reach an agreement, City Council will have to decide whether to sue its property insurance company for breach of contract. No word on when any of these cases will go to trial.
