Homeowners Settle for $9.4 Million in Niguel Summit Landslide Suit

LAGUNA NIGUEL —  Owners of condominium units that were heavily damaged in March when Niguel Summit subdivision homes crashed down a slope on them have reached a $9.4-million settlement with two Orange County developers.

The Crown Valley Parkway Homeowners Assn., representing the homeowners, settled Friday with Hon Development Co. and the owner of J.M. Peters Inc., developers of the Niguel Summit project.

The suit was filed in 1994 but received widespread attention after the landslide sent homes from Niguel Summit tumbling down the slope and upending five condominiums in the Crown Cove complex.

The lawsuit was filed after years of buckling and stress damage to the 41-unit complex. After the March 19 landslide, geologists determined that the slope was moving 3 inches a day.

Under the settlement, Hon and Capital Pacific Holdings, which owns J.M. Peters, agreed to buy out all 41 homeowners and give them $100,000 for relocation, according to a statement issued by the homeowner’s attorney Thomas E. Miller and the defendants.

“There is some relief in reaching a settlement,” said Mike DeStefano, president of the homeowners group, in the statement. “Although the initial shock has worn off, we will never really get over this.”

The group had sought $15 million.

Residents of the condominium complex, completed in 1980, started seeing problems in 1986 after construction of Niguel Summit began with the regrading and buttressing of the slope above them.

Half of the condominium owners already have evacuated. The remaining residents are expected to move by December.