Santa Barbara County paid $4 million and a farming firm provided $525,000 as settlements to the plaintiffs in a lawsuit related to the January 2023 rainstorm that sent a deluge of water and debris into an Orcutt neighborhood.
The 15 plaintiffs lived on or owned eight properties on Parkland Drive, Hibiscus Court and Country Hill Road on Jan. 9, 2023, when a stormwater retention basin at the southeast corner of Bradley Road and Union Valley Parkway failed.
The deluge knocked at least one house off its foundation while filling homes with waist-high water and debris.
The May 2024 civil complaint named Santa Barbara County and the county Flood Control and Water Conservation District as defendants.
But West Bay Company also was pulled into the litigation amid questions about agricultural practices on land east of Highway 101 near Union Valley Parkway. The county filed a cross-complaint drawing West Bay, part of the multi-generational Miller family agricultural holdings, into the case.
West Bay added hoop houses to agricultural land east of the damaged homes so the plastic shelters reduced the area of permeable surface, according to the cross-complaint from the county’s attorney.
Experts Pinpoint Poor Maintenance, Other Problems
The settlement occurred after experts pinpointed the county as being most at fault for the debris flow, citing poor maintenance of a stormwater retention basin.
Geotechnical expert Jon Wren, a civil engineer hired for West Bay, said he reviewed voluminous documents to collect data on the rainstorm, West Bay’s property, the storm drainage system, and Union Valley Parkway and Bradley Road.
Wren said his investigation found that poor maintenance by the county of Mud Lake, part of the district’s stormwater drainage system located between West Bay’s property and UVP Basin, “resulted in a loss of capacity of Mud Lake and made Mud Lake more susceptible to overflow and flooding that was directed from Mud Lake toward UVP Basin.”
Mud Lake is located at the corner of Via Santa Maria and Kenneth Avenue. It is the nickname for a massive stormwater retention basin, technically three in one area, designed to catch and keep excess rain to prevent flooding.
Along with maintenance issues, improvements to Union Valley Parkway that altered the road’s topography and caused soil disturbance at the base of the UVP Basin north wall were “substantial factors that caused the failure of UVP Basin” and resulted in the damage, Wren added.
Another civil engineer representing West Bay, hydrology expert Chad Ballard, denied hoop houses were at fault.
Ballard said his investigation found the “installation of hoop houses and/or plastic lining for crops did not increase the velocity of surface waters in the county drainage system.”
He also concluded that the installation of hoop houses and plastic lining on the West Bay land “contributed an inconsequential incremental volume of water” into the county drainage system and was not a substantial contributing factor in the flooding of plaintiffs’ property.
“The failure of UVP Basin would have occurred regardless of that small inconsequential amount of increased runoff,” Ballard added.
Other aspects of the agricultural operation, including the creation of crop rows/ditches, likely lowered the runoff volume from West Bay’s property, Ballard added.
The amount West Bay paid to the plaintiffs represents nearly one-fourth of the plaintiffs’ estimated damages, or roughly West Bay’s purported share of liability, according to legal documents.
Along with the $525,000 settlement reached late last year, West Bay handed over its experts’ work, valued at $162,00, for the plaintiffs to use against the county if the lawsuit proceeded.
Deal Avoids Trial, Provides Plaintiffs Relief
After the plaintiffs reached the $4 million settlement with the county earlier this year, Santa Barbara Superior Court Judge Thomas Anderle dismissed the lawsuit, avoiding a trial.
The plaintiffs — represented by the firm Blum & Ho, LLP — are Antoinette Whiting, Nancy Maxson, Jack Brey, Linda Brey, Eric Garcia, Nancy Garcia, Nathan Hugh, April Hugh, Olivia Lin Hugh, Robert Draper, Charlene Draper, Catherine Draper, Craig Cullen, Luke Cullen and Cynthia Mary Green.
“These families fought for years to obtain the relief they deserved, and we are proud of what they achieved,” said lawyer Steven A. Blum, who specializes in earth movement claims.
“West Bay and the Miller family cooperated fully throughout this process and supported a fair resolution for the homeowners.”
The county did not admit fault or liability in the settlement and declined to comment on it.
The plantiffs’ other lawyer, Gary Ho, said he hopes the county will “take the opportunity this settlement represents to look seriously at the infrastructure questions that remain open – not because it was ordered to, but because these are their constituents, and they deserve safe streets.”
County Seeks Mud Lake Sediment Removal
In early 2025, Santa Barbara County submitted a notice of exemption under the California Environmental Quality Act for a project to remove sediment berms separating the three basins and an old concrete drainage structure.
The goal is to increase capacity and drainage within the basin’s existing boundaries. The project would not disturb standing water at the northwest side of the site, according to the document.
County officials said this week that the Flood Control District has been actively working to find someone to take 50,000 cubic yards of material from Mud Lake. Once someone takes that material, the work should be done within a few weeks, officials said.