CC SR 20220301 E - Claim Against the City Ed Shea
CITY COUNCIL MEETING DATE: 03/01/2022
AGENDA REPORT AGENDA HEADING: Consent Calendar
AGENDA TITLE:
Consideration and possible action regarding a claim against the City by Edward J. Shea.
RECOMMENDED COUNCIL ACTION:
1) Reject the claim and direct Staff to notify the claimant, Edward J. Shea.
FISCAL IMPACT: None
Amount Budgeted: N/A
Additional Appropriation: N/A
Account Number(s): N/A
ORIGINATED BY: Teresa Takaoka, City Clerk
REVIEWED BY: Same as above
APPROVED BY: Ara Mihranian, City Manager
ATTACHED SUPPORTING DOCUMENTS:
A. Mercury Insurance claim (page A-1)
BACKGROUND AND DISCUSSION:
The City of Rancho Palos Verdes (City) is a member of the California Joint Powers
Insurance Authority (Authority), which provides risk management services and handles
any liability claims received by the City. Under the current practice, claims presented to
the City Clerk are forwarded by the Authority to a third-party claims administrator, Carl
Warren and Company (Carl Warren) for adjusting.
Carl Warren’s staff reviews each claim on its merits and contacts the City with any
requested action pertaining to the disposition of the claim. The City Clerk and the City
Attorney review each claim when received and work closely with Carl Warren throughout
the claims process.
Claimant:
On February 8, 2022, the City received a claim for damages from Edward J. Shea. The
claim was referred to Carl Warren for review and investigation. The claimant states that
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a power outage caused his garage door not to open necessitating a repair. The garage
door company’s technician stated the outage blew out the main logic board which had to
be replaced. Mr. Shea contacted SCE representatives and the California Public Utilities
Commission (CPUC) for restitution. The former (SCE) contends no liability and CPUC
stated the matter was out of their jurisdiction.
Deposition:
Carl Warren has reviewed the claim and found that there is no liability for the City as the
City does not have control over the supply of electrical power, whether there is a complete
or partial failure in the electrical supply and is a separate entity from SCE. Carl Warren
recommends denying the claim for damages.
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