Civil Procedure
May 19, 2026
Fire plaintiffs accuse state of hiding key texts, lagging discovery
Plaintiffs say newly produced State Parks text messages support claims that lingering embers from the Lachman Fire reignited into the Palisades Fire, and they accuse the state of violating discovery orders.
Plaintiffs in the Palisades Fire litigation say they've caught the state violating court discovery orders for the third time in five months, accusing California agencies of withholding and delaying "incriminating" text messages from State Parks employees in an alleged effort to conceal evidence undermining the state's position that the earlier Lachman Fire was fully extinguished.
At the heart of the plaintiffs' theory is that smoldering embers left after the L...
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