Newport Beach-based Downey Savings and Loan won a landslide-related court case against Los Angeles County. Along with two Malibu-area families, the lender was awarded almost $2 million in damages as a result of a landslide that destroyed four homes in Las Flores Canyon in 1998.
The judge and jury in the 2 1/2-month case found that the county had violated its own policies by approving diversion of surface water and a storm drain that caused the landslide.
Thomas S. Salinger and Steve Goon of the Costa Mesa-based law firm Rutan & Tucker were the attorneys for the plaintiffs.
