A couple who own an oceanfront condominium in Laguna Beach have filed a federal lawsuit against the energy company at the center of a massive oil leak in the waters off of Orange County, alleging that poor maintenance of an underwater pipeline resulted in polluted public beaches and damage to private property along the coast.
The complaint was filed at the federal courthouse in Santa Ana on behalf of Stephen and Kristin Samuelian, who are trustees of a family trust that owns the condo on Coast Highway, as well as SK5-Keller Legacy, a Utah-based LLC that owns a home on North La Senda Drive in Laguna Beach.
Their attorneys are seeking class-action status for the lawsuit against Amplify Energy Corp., citing the widespread impact of the oil leak – estimated at 144,000 gallons – and the large number of residents and businesses impacted.
The suit contends that it appears the operators of the pipeline “did not promptly act to respond to signs of the pipeline’s failure or notify relevant government agencies.” As a result, it alleges, “While this spill is a disaster, it is not an accident.
“In short, defendants operated a pipeline that failed. The communities through which it transports oil, and most particularly the beachfront property owners and renters, suffer the consequences.”
The Orange County coast is “a special place with blue water, iconic piers, famous surf breaks and beautiful beaches,” the lawsuit reads. “Much of the economic life in this region revolves around the coastal areas and beaches. Thousands of people in Orange County depend on the ocean and beaches for work and play. Beachfront property owners enjoy direct access to blue waters and magnificent coastline, and residents walk the beaches, fish from the shores, swim, surf, kayak and use and enjoy their properties … Now contamination by Defendants’ oil spill has undermined the health of the environment and the coastal beachfront real property.”
The lawsuit seeks an unspecified amount of monetary damages, as well as a court order barring the company from operating the pipeline without “adequate safety and response measures and ongoing monitoring.”
The suit was filed by A. Barry Cappello, Leila J. Noel and Lawrence J. Conlan of the firm Cappello & Noel in Santa Barbara.
A similar lawsuit against Amplify Energy, a Houston-based company that operates three offshore oil platforms south of Los Angeles, was filed earlier this week on behalf of Peter Moses Gutierrez Jr., a Huntington beach resident and owner of a DJ company that often performs on the local beachfront. That lawsuit accuses the company of failing to operate their oil rig properly, leading to the “catastrophic” spill.
A multi-agency criminal investigation into Amplify Energy and the oil spill is underway. The Coast Guard also is trying to determine whether a ship anchor might have snagged and bent the pipeline.
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October 08, 2021 at 02:02AM
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Oil spill: Laguna Beach homeowners sue Amplify Energy Corp. - OCRegister
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