Settlement OKd in Landslide That Affected 6 Homes : Litigation: San Juan Capistrano owners, who blamed one another, will share $2.2 million rather than go to trial.

SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO —  Two years after a landslide destroyed or damaged their hillside residences, six homeowners have finally set aside their dispute over the cause of the slide and will split a $2.2-million settlement.

Three of the homeowners, who lived on Calle Lucana at the base of a 75-foot hill, could only watch as the earth slowly crept down upon their homes on Jan. 27, 1992, and destroyed them. Another home on Calle Lucana and two more on Via Alano at the top of the hill were damaged but not destroyed.

Under a complex settlement reached Monday among the six homeowners, who blamed each other for the landslide, $2.2 million in insurance payments will be spent to rebuild three destroyed homes, repair three others and re-slope the 75-foot-high hillside, said Wes Davis, attorney for the four homeowners who lived at the base of the hill.

In a suit filed in February, 1992, the four homeowners on Calle Lucana claimed that a persistent leak and pumping of water from a pool owned by uphill residents Sanford and Sheila Schpiro saturated the hillside and led to the landslide.

But the Schpiros contended in legal papers that irrigation by residents at the bottom of the hill caused it to become saturated.

Another uphill homeowner, Terri Parker, who lived next to the Schpiros, filed a separate claim against them, alleging that her property was damaged by the Schpiros’ leaky pool.

According to court records, five geo-technical firms investigated the cause of the landslide. Four firms concluded that the slide was triggered by the leak in the Schpiros’ pool, while one firm attributed the slide to rainfall and leaky irrigation systems at the bottom the hill.

The groups chose to settle Monday after a daylong meeting because the cost of a trial would have been greater than the amount needed to fix all the houses, Davis said. Attorneys for the Schpiros and Parker and all six homeowners declined comment or could not be reached for comment this week.

Davis said the Schpiros’ insurance company will be the largest contributor to the fund. “My clients were pretty satisfied with the settlement,” said Davis. “Based upon the circumstances, it was a good compromise,” he said.