Eaton Fire Lawsuits Against Edison Set for Status Conference in Downtown LA

A Los Angeles Superior Court judge was scheduled to hold a status conference Friday in the consolidated lawsuits against Southern California Edison over last year’s Eaton Fire, a case that has grown to include the Pasadena Jewish Temple and Center and the Pasadena Unified School District among nearly 1,000 plaintiffs.

The 10 a.m. hearing was scheduled before Judge Laura A. Seigle in Department 17 of the Spring Street Courthouse, 312 N. Spring St., in downtown Los Angeles.

It is the latest step in a mass tort alleging that Edison’s transmission equipment sparked the January 7, 2025, fire that killed 19 people and destroyed more than 9,400 structures in Altadena. The consolidated case is anchored by a lawsuit filed by Altadena homeowner Jeremy Gursey, whose Lake Avenue home was destroyed in the blaze.

Gursey’s complaint, filed January 13, 2025, alleges that at approximately 6:18 p.m. that evening, an electrical failure occurred on overhead power lines owned by Edison, causing an arc that ignited vegetation beneath a transmission tower in Eaton Canyon. High winds, with gusts reaching 100 mph, then rapidly pushed the fire into Eaton Canyon and neighboring communities. The blaze burned 14,021 acres before full containment on January 31, 2025, ranking as the fifth-deadliest and second-most-destructive wildfire in California history.

Cal Fire’s official cause determination remains listed as undetermined, though the U.S. Department of Justice sued Edison in September 2025, asserting the utility’s power lines caused the fire. Edison has not admitted responsibility. Edison International CEO Pedro Pizarro said during a 2025 earnings call that the company was “not aware of evidence pointing to another possible source of ignition.”

The Pasadena Jewish Temple and Center joined the litigation in January, according to a press release from the congregation’s law firm, Zimmerman Reed LLP.

The lawsuit alleges electrical faults were detected on Edison lines in Eaton Canyon shortly after 6:10 p.m. on the night of the fire, and that flames swept through the temple’s two-acre campus at 1434 North Altadena Drive, destroying its sanctuary, preschool and community buildings. Congregation members saved the sanctuary’s Torah scrolls before the buildings were lost. “Our congregation has been without a physical home for more than a year,” Senior Rabbi Joshua Ratner said in the law firm’s statement.

The Pasadena Unified School District has also sued Edison, joining the city of Pasadena, the city of Sierra Madre and Los Angeles County as government plaintiffs. Pasadena occupies a dual role: the city sued Edison over damaged public infrastructure, while Edison separately named Pasadena Water & Power, Los Angeles County, five other water agencies and Southern California Gas Co. as cross-defendants in filings on January 16. Pasadena spokeswoman Lisa Derderian rejected Edison’s cross-complaint, saying in a statement reported by Pasadena Now that “evidence from the lawsuit has shown Edison’s equipment to be the cause” of the fire.

Richard Bridgford, a partner representing Gursey, told Pasadena Now: “We happen to know the ignition point is directly below their line.”

Edison spokesman David Eisenhauer, responding to the temple’s lawsuit in January, said, “Our hearts remain with the people affected by the Eaton fire.”

The consolidated case is advancing toward selection of roughly 50 bellwether test cases, with the first trial scheduled for January 25, 2027.