Oxnard : Court Decision on Dunes Is Upheld

A state appeals court has upheld a ruling that Oxnard Dunes residents should not be permitted to testify at an upcoming trial that they have suffered physical injuries caused by an oil waste dump buried beneath their beachfront neighborhood.

A three-judge Los Angeles appellate court, in a 2-1 vote Wednesday, upheld Superior Court Judge Melinda Johnson’s ruling last June in the complex $2.8-billion Oxnard Dunes lawsuit that could go to trial this spring.

The 175 plaintiffs in the suit are alleging that developers, landowners and the city of Oxnard are liable for failing to inform residents of an oil waste dump buried underneath the Oxnard Dunes subdivision.

An oil-field waste dump more than 25 years old was discovered in 1985 under the Oxnard housing development, which is east of Harbor Boulevard between Wooley Road and Fifth Street. In 1986, residents filed a massive lawsuit against almost everyone connected to the land, including the previous landowners, oil companies, landfill operators and the city of Oxnard.

In November, 1990, state health officials concluded almost five years of testing and announced that the buried waste poses no health risk to the residents.

The case was scheduled to go to trial last August, but it was postponed when the appellate court decided to hear the issue on the admissibility of unproven personal injuries.

Fred Rucker, who represents about 30 of the Dunes plaintiffs, sought the postponement. He could not be reached for comment Friday.

Judge Johnson, who will try the case, ruled that plaintiffs suing for personal injury claims had to submit legally sufficient evidence of their personal injuries before such personal injuries could be brought up at trial.

“She is the first judge in California to ask that you show a reasonable medical probability before the trial,” said Glen M. Reiser, an attorney representing the McGrath family, previous landowners being sued by the Oxnard Dunes residents.

Johnson’s ruling will shorten the trial considerably, Reiser said. “Of course, there still is the potential possibility of review by the California Supreme Court.”

Reiser said the earliest date that a trial would be set would be in early May.