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Home My WebLink About06 CLAIM USAA INS. 07-07-97 LAW OFFICES Of WOODRUFF~ SPRADLIN & SMARI A PROFESSIONAL CORPORATION MEMORANDUM NO. 6 7-7-97 TO: Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Council City of Tustin FROM: City Attorney DATE: June 30, 1997 RE: Claim of USAA Insurance Company; Claim NO. 97-15 RECOMMENDATION After investigation and review by this office and the City's Claims Administrator, it' is recommended that the City Council deny the claim, and direct the City Clerk to give notice thereof to the claimant and to the claimant's attorneys. DISCUSSION USAA is the insurance carrier for an individual that lives at 12591 Redhill Avenue. This property is located outside the City of Tustin city limits. The insurance comPanY is attempting to collect from the City of Tustin for insurance proceeds that it paid to the property owner due to a fire that occurred on or about October 21, 1996 at the subject address. The attorney for USAA has been notified of the property's location outside the city limits of the City of Tustin. If the claimant persists and files an action against the City of Tustin, the City will seek sanctions under Code of Civil Procedure Section 1038. Because there is no possible liability on the part of the City of Tustin, it is recommended that the City Council deny this claim. ' LOIS E. JEFFRF~ Enclosures cc: William A. Huston, City Manager 1102-9715 48482_1 Alex Barrios' Extension: 120 Eric M. Schroeder, Esquire Stephen N. Cole & Associates 3050 BeaCon Boulevard, Suite 104 West Sacramento, CA 92691 Your Client : Our Principal : D/Incident : Claimant : Our File : Dear Mr. Schroeder: June 6, 1997 USAA Insurance ComPany '-... City of Tustin 10-21-96 USAA Insurance Company S 88946 JB As Claims Administrators for the City of Tustin, please be advised you have unjustly presented a claim to'said City in connection with an incident which has no involvement whatsoever with the City of Tustin. The incident occurred on premises owned and controlled by an entity other than City of Tustin. The City of has no jurisdiction or control over the area where your client was involved in the incident. The property at 12591 Redkill Avenue is outside of the city limits of the City of Tustin and within the unincorporated territory of the County of Orange. We have instructed our principal to reject your corrected claim. In considering your fUture course of action, we should like to remind you of the provisions of Code of Civil Procedure Section 1038. In the course of any litigation filed against the City the City will seek the remedies afforded by that Section. It is not the intention of this letter to deter the filing of any lawsuit against the City where there is a justifiable controversy under the facts and the law. We do feel that in the instant case, there is absolutely no basis for the City of Tustin to be included in your client's claim, or any litigation that might result. Under the circumstances we are sure that you will, as you of course should, exercise your . independent judgment in advising your clients on the filing of any litigation that might include our principal as defendant, fUlly informing your client of the provisions of CCP Section 1038, before arriving at your decisions. CARL WARREN & CO, CLAIMS MANAGEMENT & ADMINISTRATION P.O. Box 25180 · Santa Aha, CA 92799-5180 We are confident that your further independent investigation will verify that the incident location is not with the jurisdiction of the City of Tustin and that will be pursue tiffs matter only against the proper parties which does not include the City of Tustin. After you' have made such verification, we would appreciate informing us and the City of Tustin that the claim is being withdrawn so that we can close our respective files and thus save further unnecessary expense. If you have any questions regarding the City of Tustin's position in this matter, please contact us at your convenience. Thank you for your attention and cooperation. Very truly yours, CARL WARREN AND COMPANY ~ c: Lois Jeffrey, City Attorney Woodruff, Spradlin & Smart Ronald Nault, Finance Director City of Tustin -Carl Warren & Co. Office of the City Clerk June 4, ]997 Carl Warren & Co. P. O. Box 25]80 Santa Ana, CA 92799-5180 Re- Transmittal of Document(s) City of Tustin 300 Centennial Way Tustin, CA 92680 (714) 573-3026 FAX (714) 832-0825 Claimant- Claim No.- Filed With City- USAA InsuranCe 97-15 6-3-97 Receipt of Claim/Summons and Complaint by the City Clerk's Office on' Date' 6-3-97 Time- 11'00 a.m. By: Personal Service upon the undersigned Regular Mail Certified/Registered Mail Interdepartment Delivery - Finance Department The enclosed Claim (or Application to File Late Claim) was presented to this office as indicated above and has been referred to the appropriate City department for its investigation and also to the offices of Rourke, Woodruff & Spradlin, Attn: Lois E. Jeffrey, City Attorney. By this letter, you are authorized to commence the necessary investigation of this claim on behalf of the City. We request that you give such notices as may be appropriate to the City's insurance carrier(s) and further request that you submit your preliminary and all subsequent reports to the City, with a copy to the City Attorney and to the insurance carrier(s) if they so request. Upon receipt of advice from the City Attorney, we will plan to present this matter to the City Council and/or take such other steps as are directed by the City Attorney. · X Other- Corrected Claim A copy of this letter and enclosures were sent on 6-5-97 to the City Attorney and Department Head, and the original was forwarded to the Finance Department. Sim~.~ erely, Beverley White Deputy City Cle~'.k/ Enc t osures LAW OFFICES OF STEPHEN N. COLE & ASSOCL4~TES 3050 ]BEACON BLVD., SUITE #104 WEST SACRAMENTO, CA 95691 TEL (800) GG-SUBRO LOCA~ TEL (916) 371-504 FxX (916) 371-5199 E-Ng,.m SUr~RO~StmRO~,~T. COM MAY 30, 1997 RECEIVED · FINANCE DEPT. PLEASE REFER TO MY FILE NL,NI3ER: 213 94 9 Mr. Ronald Nault Finance Deportment CITY OF TUSTIN 300 Centennial Way Tustin, CA 926g0 Claimant Assured Claim No. Date/Loss Your File No. · USAA Insurance Company · Janet Wheeler · 874356 '10/21/96 '97-15 Dear Mr. Nault: -, · I received your letter denying USAA Insurance Company's Claim Against the City of Tustin in the above referenced matter. Please be advised that the date of October 21, 1995, was incorrect in that the actual date is October 21, 1996. Accordingly, I enclosed a copy of the corrected claim as well as the copy of the claim which was served on the City in a timely manner. Hopefully, this typographical error did not cause any unnecessmy work on your part. Thank you for your cooperation in this matter. Very truly yours, STEPI~r~N N. COLE & ASSOCIATES ERIC M. SCIIROEDER EMS:mc Enclosure FOUNDER AND Dmcro~ oF THE SUBRONET GROUP HAN'DL~G SUBROGATION THROUGHOUT CALIFORNIA, ARIZONA, NEVADA, AND UTAH F:\CASE~ 13949\CORRESPO¥~DVERSEhNAULT. LTR 11 12 13 !4 15 16 17 18 19 20 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 Eric M. Schroeder (SB#153521 ) LAW OFFICES OF STEPHEN N. COLE & ASSOCIATES 3050 Beacon Boulevard, Suite 104 West Sacramento, CA 95691 (916) 371-5041 Attorneys for Plaintiffs USAA INSURANCE COMPANY, Plaintiff, V. CITY OF TUSTIN, Defendants. CLAIM AGAINST THE CITY OF TUSTIN . , . . o . Claimant is USAA Insurance Company, P.O. Box15506, Sacramento, CA 95852-1506, (916) 921-9060 Address all correspondence for claimant to its attorney Eric M. Schroeder, Law Offices of Stephen N. Cole & Associates, 3050 Beacon Boulevard, Suite 104, West Sacramento, CA 95691, (916) 371-5041. At ali times relevant, USAA's insured Jeffrey Parks was the owner of certain real property located at At ali times relevant, claimant, USAA Insurance Company insured Jeffrey Parks for property damage among other coverages. On or about October 21, 1996, the property at 12591 Redhill Avenue caught fire. The' cause of ;[he fire was determined to be power lines coming into contact with trees and bushes located at a private residence in Tustin, CA. The power lines which were running through and came into contact with the trees and bushes and ignited the' fire are believed to belong to Southern California Edison Company. Page 1 10 11 12 13 14 15 . . 10. 11. Dated: As a result of Southern California Edison Company's failure to provide adequate clearance between its power lines and adjacent combustibles such as trees and bushes, the power lines came into contact with those combustibles causing sparks or arcs to occur igniting USAA's insured's property. The fire was able to ignite and spread due to a failure to maintain adequate clearance of combustibles such as brush and foliage on public lands owned by the City of Tustin/County of Orange. Claimant, USAA Insurance Company, investigated claims made by Jeffrey Parks, its insured, and made payments for the damage suffered as a'result of the fire and fire suppression activities. Claimant, USAA Insurance Company, has been damaged in an amount subject to the jurisdiction of the superior court. STEPHEN N. COLE & ASSOCIATES 16 17 18 19 ERIC M. SCHROEDER Attorney for Claimant USAA Insurance Company 20 21 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 Page 2