California Suits

The California attorney general's office sued four major energy companies for $150 million Monday, alleging that they broke contracts to provide emergency power to the state's power grid operator and instead sold the electricity on the lucrative spot market on thousands of occasions. In many cases, the lawsuits allege, the state was forced to buy its emergency electricity from the costly spot market, paying a second time for the same power withheld in the first place by the energy companies.

The tortured tale of Bolsa Chica took another twist Friday, when the owner and would-be developer sued the California Coastal Commission, alleging that the agency illegally "took" the property by so severely restricting what could be built that development was no longer economically feasible. Bolsa Chica, between Seal Beach and Huntington Beach, boasts the largest wetlands complex in Southern California and is a key stopover for migrating birds on the Pacific Flyway.

A legal challenge by the cities of Lake Forest and Irvine to force a state panel to ease development restrictions around the closed El Toro and Tustin Marine bases was denied this week by a Los Angeles Superior Court judge. Judge Chris R. Conway upheld the authority of the Airport Land Use Commission to continue barring the construction of homes and limiting other building near the former bases, which closed in July 1999.

In a case being closely watched by local governments, the California Supreme Court is set to decide whether a 1996 voter initiative unfairly blocked a Fontana accident victim from seeking damages because he had no insurance. The appeal turns on Proposition 213, the 1996 initiative that prohibited uninsured drivers from suing for "noneconomic" harm, such as pain and suffering. The proposition permits uninsured motorists to obtain compensation only for damages such as wage loss.

Duke Energy Corp. sued the California Independent System Operator and the state's Department of Water Resources on Monday, claiming they are violating their own rules by delivering power to insolvent utilities. The energy trader's suit, filed in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles, seeks a court order to stop Cal-ISO from delivering electricity to Edison International and PG&E Corp.

Residents of the Crystal Cove State Park cottages who have received eviction notices from the state sued on Tuesday in Orange County Superior Court to prevent being ousted from the 1920s-era dwellings. A lawyer representing the Crystal Cove Residents Assn. said officials of the California Department of Parks and Recreation had violated the California Environmental Quality Act and other statutes by evicting residents without first adopting a plan for reuse or maintenance of the historic cottages.

General Motors filed suit Friday in California to overturn the state's zero emission vehicle mandate. The action came a day after the state air resources board rejected GM's bid to delay implementation of the rules. The so-called ZEV mandate would require major auto makers to begin offering a limited number of zero emission vehicles for sale or lease in the state in 2003.

R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., the nation's second-largest cigarette manufacturer, violated key provisions of the national tobacco settlement's restrictions on advertising that targets children, and on the use of billboards, according to a pair of lawsuits filed Monday by California Atty. Gen. Bill Lockyer.

In the state's first civil action against the owners of a chain of nursing homes, Atty. Gen. Bill Lockyer on Thursday announced the filing of a complaint alleging serious patient neglect at four facilities. The complaint alleges dozens of violations of state and federal regulations involving 100 patients who suffered from such problems as dehydration, malnutrition, injuries from falls requiring surgery, and palm-size bedsores deep enough to expose bones.

California prisoners suffer needlessly and are at risk of death because state corrections officials are ill-trained, underfunded and indifferent to inmates' medical needs, according to a class-action lawsuit filed Thursday. The suit follows years of persistent complaints about health care in state prisons, and the recent deaths of eight female inmates. Filed in federal court in San Francisco, it alleges that deficient care by Gov.