Los Angeles to Pay $38 Million to Settle Lawsuit Over Electrocution Deaths of Father and Daughter

Los Angeles will pay $38 million to settle a lawsuit over the death of two people who were electrocuted by a power line that fell into their backyard.

The Department of Water and Power’s Board of Commissioners last month agreed to settle a suit over the January 2021 deaths of Ferdinand Tejada, 53, and his 20-year-old daughter, Janina Tejada. They died after coming into contact with a high-voltage electrical wire that fell into the backyard of their home in the Panorama City neighborhood.

The lawsuit by two family members said the city failed to properly maintain its power equipment.

Tejeda’s wife, Julleth Tejada, said she witnessed the deaths of her husband and daughter. Estrelita Madrigal, Janina Tejada’s grandmother, “heard the explosion, smelled the smoke and fire, heard the screams and the yelling, and was aware that her granddaughter was being electrocuted,” according to the lawsuit as cited by the Los Angeles Times.

Read the source article at apnews.com