{"id":925435,"date":"2026-07-10T12:09:15","date_gmt":"2026-07-10T12:09:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/925435\/"},"modified":"2026-07-10T12:09:15","modified_gmt":"2026-07-10T12:09:15","slug":"eaton-fire-lawsuits-against-edison-set-for-status-conference-in-downtown-la-pasadena-now","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/925435\/","title":{"rendered":"Eaton Fire Lawsuits Against Edison Set for Status Conference in Downtown LA \u2013 Pasadena Now"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Cell phone images of the first moments after the Eaton Fire ignited on Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2025, on the mountainside opposite Midwick Drive\u2019s terminus at N. Altadena Drive in Altadena. [Jennifer Errico]A Los Angeles Superior Court judge was scheduled to hold a status conference Friday in the consolidated lawsuits against Southern California Edison over last year\u2019s Eaton Fire, a case that has grown to include the Pasadena Jewish Temple and Center and the Pasadena Unified School District among nearly 1,000 plaintiffs.<\/p>\n

The 10 a.m. hearing was scheduled before Judge Laura A. Seigle in Department 17 of the Spring Street Courthouse, 312 N. Spring St., in downtown Los Angeles. <\/p>\n

It is the latest step in a mass tort alleging that Edison\u2019s transmission equipment sparked the January 7, 2025, fire that killed 19 people and destroyed more than 9,400 structures in Altadena. The consolidated case is anchored by a lawsuit filed by Altadena homeowner Jeremy Gursey, whose Lake Avenue home was destroyed in the blaze.<\/p>\n

Gursey\u2019s complaint, filed January 13, 2025, alleges that at approximately 6:18 p.m. that evening, an electrical failure occurred on overhead power lines owned by Edison, causing an arc that ignited vegetation beneath a transmission tower in Eaton Canyon. High winds, with gusts reaching 100 mph, then rapidly pushed the fire into Eaton Canyon and neighboring communities. The blaze burned 14,021 acres before full containment on January 31, 2025, ranking as the fifth-deadliest and second-most-destructive wildfire in California history.<\/p>\n

Cal Fire\u2019s official cause determination remains listed as undetermined, though the U.S. Department of Justice sued Edison in September 2025, asserting the utility\u2019s power lines caused the fire. Edison has not admitted responsibility. Edison International CEO Pedro Pizarro said during a 2025 earnings call that the company was \u201cnot aware of evidence pointing to another possible source of ignition.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Pasadena Jewish Temple and Center joined the litigation in January, according to a press release from the congregation\u2019s law firm, Zimmerman Reed LLP. <\/p>\n

The lawsuit alleges electrical faults were detected on Edison lines in Eaton Canyon shortly after 6:10 p.m. on the night of the fire, and that flames swept through the temple\u2019s two-acre campus at 1434 North Altadena Drive, destroying its sanctuary, preschool and community buildings. Congregation members saved the sanctuary\u2019s Torah scrolls before the buildings were lost. \u201cOur congregation has been without a physical home for more than a year,\u201d Senior Rabbi Joshua Ratner said in the law firm\u2019s statement.<\/p>\n

The Pasadena Unified School District has also sued Edison, joining the city of Pasadena, the city of Sierra Madre and Los Angeles County as government plaintiffs. Pasadena occupies a dual role: the city sued Edison over damaged public infrastructure, while Edison separately named Pasadena Water & Power, Los Angeles County, five other water agencies and Southern California Gas Co. as cross-defendants in filings on January 16. Pasadena spokeswoman Lisa Derderian rejected Edison\u2019s cross-complaint, saying in a statement reported by Pasadena Now that \u201cevidence from the lawsuit has shown Edison\u2019s equipment to be the cause\u201d of the fire.<\/p>\n

Richard Bridgford, a partner representing Gursey, told Pasadena Now: \u201cWe happen to know the ignition point is directly below their line.\u201d <\/p>\n

Edison spokesman David Eisenhauer, responding to the temple\u2019s lawsuit in January, said, \u201cOur hearts remain with the people affected by the Eaton fire.\u201d<\/p>\n

The consolidated case is advancing toward selection of roughly 50 bellwether test cases, with the first trial scheduled for January 25, 2027.<\/p>\n

Get our daily Pasadena newspaper in your email box. Free.<\/p>\n

Get all the latest Pasadena news, more than 10 fresh stories daily, 7 days a week at 7 a.m.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Cell phone images of the first moments after the Eaton Fire ignited on Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2025, on…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":925436,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5123],"tags":[104,1582,18601,276,7366,2105,2961,105,37258,728,224,42067,5337,42072,42077,42078,5338,42074,42070,42068,42076,42071,42073,42075,42069],"class_list":["post-925435","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-breaking-news","tag-ca","tag-calendar","tag-california","tag-community-news","tag-food-and-drink","tag-la","tag-latest-news","tag-lifestyles","tag-local-news","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-county-news","tag-losangeles","tag-nonprofit-news","tag-official-events-calendar","tag-old-town-pasadena-news","tag-pasadena","tag-pasadena-arts-and-culture","tag-pasadena-city-guide","tag-pasadena-events","tag-pasadena-living","tag-pasadena-restaurants","tag-pasadena-shopping-news","tag-popular-things-to-do-in-pasadena","tag-things-to-do-in-pasadena"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/925435","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=925435"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/925435\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/925436"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=925435"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=925435"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=925435"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}