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Many property owners believe that ignorance
is a good defense against liability, and that the
identification of vulnerable buildings may
secure their legal responsibility if their building
is on the list. Knowledge that a building is
potentially unsafe doesn’t have to come from
a city notice. Risk can also be officially
conveyed in documents prepared by banks and
lending institutions, insurance companies and
any other industry that does building
assessments as a part of doing business.

In truth, many structures have already
undergone evaluations of some kind. It is
common to assess the structural integrity of a
building as a part of the sale, purchase,
refinance and application for liability insurance
of most properties. In the majority of these
cases, a physical inspection is required, which includes a structural inspection of the building. These
documents will identify seismic vulnerabilities if they exist, and they can be accessed as a part of
discovery during litigation.

In addition, similar negligence issues have recently been tested with other construction-related failures.
The San Francisco Examiner, in explaining liability issues in a case involving the fatal collapse of a
balcony in Berkeley in 2015, wrote that wrongful death actions could potentially be brought against the
building’s architects, structural engineers, developers, general contractors, sub-contractors, product
manufacturers, distributors and retailers, building owners and building managers. xxviii

“Negligence is the failure to use reasonable care to prevent harm to oneself or to others,” the article
stated. “A person can be negligent by acting or by failing to act. A person is negligent if he or she does
something that a reasonably careful person would not do in the same situation or fails to do something
that a reasonably careful person would do in the same situation. This would result in a civil action
brought by private parties (in contrast to a criminal action potentially brought by the D.A.) for monetary
damages for wrongful death and/or personal injuries. The wrongful death actions would be brought by
the families of the six who died and the personal injury actions would be brought by those who suffered
xxix
physical and/or emotional injuries.”

Insurance Alone is Not the Answer

It’s no secret that earthquake insurance in California is expensive and that most property owners – 81.2
xxx
percent, to be exact – are reluctant to buy it. That’s one reason why the state in 1996 established the
California Earthquake Authority, a nonprofit designed to help individual homeowners gain access to
more affordable insurance options to protect themselves and their families against the threat of a major
earthquake.

Regrettably, earthquake insurance options for commercial building owners remain limited, costly and in
many ways inadequate – putting an added burden on the potential for economic hardship, should a
structure become damaged when the Big One strikes. Owners that do carry insurance on their buildings

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Yucaipa Valley Water District - March 8, 2018 - Page 15 of 40