Laguna Beach : City Decides to Quit Lawsuit-Ridden Pact

Weary of fighting lawsuits that have been a drain on city coffers, Laguna Beach Monday formally pulled out of a long-standing agreement with the California Department of Transportation under which the city helped to maintain portions of Laguna Canyon Road and Coast Highway.

Although the agreement only requires the city to paint crosswalks, maintain lights and sweep portions of the roads within city boundaries, Laguna Beach has been often been named in lawsuits alleging negligence or road hazards contributing to fatal or serious auto accidents.

City Manager Ken Frank said that the city is the target of about 60 claims a year stemming from accidents occurring on the two state-run roads. “I would say that of those 60 claims, about five to 10 a year are not resolved easily and attorneys are called in,” Frank said.

While the city wins most cases because it is able to prove that actual responsibility lies with Caltrans, merely proving that fact is costly for the city.

“As long as we have that maintenance agreement, people will ask if we do and then we get sued,” Frank said. “They’re looking for every possible way to bring a public agency into a suit.”

During the upcoming year, the city has allocated $620,000 for attorneys’ fees and liability insurance, much of that to combat lawsuits resulting from accidents on Laguna Canyon Road and Coast Highway, he said.

--Robert Hanley