LADWP boss Janisse Quiñones quits job to flee to Puerto Rico after courtroom discovered utility firm liable in hearth

Simply weeks after a Los Angeles choose dominated that the Los Angeles Division of Water and Energy (LADWP) could possibly be held liable for the catastrophic water system failure and getting older electrical infrastructure that fueled the Palisades Fireplace, the utility’s CEO and chief engineer is stepping down, asserting her return to her residence island of Puerto Rico.

Mayor Karen Bass introduced Wednesday that Janisse Quiñones, who oversees the town’s electrical grid and water provide, will step down efficient March 27 as a part of what the mayor described as a “deliberate transition.”

Critics, nevertheless, urged the timing was greater than coincidental, calling it “suspicious” and labeling her sudden departure a “dereliction of responsibility.”

“Attention-grabbing improvement, approaching the heels of the choose in our case overruling LADWP’s demurrer to our Grasp Grievance,” legal professional Alex Robertson, the lawyer within the Palisades Fireplace case towards LADWP, informed The California Put up. “I don’t imagine in coincidences.”

Robertson was referring to a Feb. 19 ruling by Los Angeles Superior Court docket Decide Samantha Jessner rejecting LADWP’s try and dismiss the lawsuit.

By overruling the utility’s demurrer, the courtroom allowed claims of inverse condemnation and harmful situation of public property to proceed — particularly allegations tied to the “inherently dangerous” design of the water provide system and the failure of “antiquated” electrical infrastructure.

Jessner’s determination permits an enormous lawsuit on behalf of roughly 10,000 hearth victims to maneuver ahead, forcing the town to formally reply to allegations that failing infrastructure and depleted water provides worsened the catastrophe.

The ruling additionally highlighted claims that LADWP knowingly designed a water system that would fail if its major reservoir was offline. On the time of the fires, the 117-million-gallon Santa Ynez Reservoir in Pacific Palisades had been drained for repairs — a call plaintiffs argue contributed to the system being overwhelmed.

“The buck stops together with her,” Robertson stated. “She was chief engineer. The reservoirs ought to have been repaired in weeks, not months.”

The town’s prime energy and water official took over her $750,000-a-year publish in Might 2024 — three months after the Santa Ynez Reservoir, the system’s most important water provide, had been closed for repairs in February.

Robertson famous that the LADWP CEO was negotiating a payout to depart her job. “The optics don’t seem like an awesome setup,” he stated.

Quiñones had already confronted criticism over the division’s response to the devastating Los Angeles fires, together with scrutiny over empty reservoirs and tons of of fireside hydrants that reportedly wanted restore.

“Her time period is marked by failures,” Robertson stated. “As soon as we’re allowed to start out discovery, we are going to see why she was successfully pressured out by Mayor Bass.”

A KCAL Information investigation discovered greater than 1,300 hearth hydrants throughout Los Angeles required upkeep or repairs, some flagged practically a 12 months earlier than the Palisades and Eaton fires — elevating questions on whether or not malfunctioning hydrants hindered firefighting efforts.

LADWP has maintained that draining the reservoir was required by federal and state rules to guard ingesting water high quality. The utility additionally argues that even when the reservoir had been full, the system’s move capability would nonetheless have been shortly overwhelmed by the intense calls for of the blaze.

“They’re going to deal with causation greater than legal responsibility,” Robertson stated, including that LADWP nonetheless has a “robust case” even because the ball strikes into the utility’s courtroom.

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