Plaintiffs’ attorneys have urged a judge to expand a restraining order against Southern California Edison to preserve equipment and electrical fault data in the wake of a new Eaton Fire video allegedly showing arcing and sparking from an SCE transmission tower.
Attorneys in the Los Angeles County Superior Court case Evangeline Iglesias v. Southern California Edison Co. sought the modification of the restraining order in a court document filed on Jan. 27. In an ex parte status update, attorneys with Edelson PC say their investigation produced closed circuit video from a gas station near Eaton Canyon showing what the attorneys alleged is arcing and sparking from SCE equipment, followed by the breakout of flames, on Jan. 7.
The legal filing comes in the wake of disclosures that SCE had discovered the remains of a homeless encampment near the origin of the Eaton Fire. A reference to the encampment is contained in an update about the fire from SCE that was published by the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC).
“On Jan. 25, 2025, after providing notice to the county and counsel for certain wildfire plaintiffs, SCE collected evidence from Eaton Canyon, including metal items found on the ground near the towers and items from an encampment located approximately 300 yards downhill from the towers,” the SCE update states. “Collected items are being preserved in a secure location.”
Plaintiffs’ attorneys portrayed SCE’s discovery of the homeless encampment materials as a diversion.
“On Sunday, we released a video along with a court filing that appears to show SCE equipment arcing and starting the Eaton fire in one continuous video,” J. Eli Wade-Scott, a partner with Edelson PC, told the Southern California Record in an email. “SoCal Edison's efforts to blame a homeless encampment in light of this video are disingenuous at best.”
The court filing also criticized the utility for allegedly misleading the public about the source of the Eaton Fire and for putting an “Attorneys Eyes Only” label on data collections in the case. Some sections of the plaintiffs’ attorneys’ Jan. 27 filing have been redacted.
“The court should consequently exercise its discretion to unseal the materials that SCE has improperly designated as ‘Attorneys' Eyes Only,’ which will allow the public to begin learning the truth about the cause of the Eaton Fire,” the filing states.
Plaintiffs’ attorneys are now asking Judge Ashfaq G. Chowdhury to expand the previous temporary restraining order to include the preservation of additional transmission circuits between substations in the region and distribution data for lines in nearby Altadena where electrical faults or abnormalities were discovered on the day the fire started.
The closed-circuit video evidence has been corroborated by other pictures and videos taken by other parties of flames underneath SCE equipment, according to the filing.
SCE did not respond to requests for comment. The Eaton Fire claimed 11 lives and destroyed more than 1,400 structures, according to the McNicholas & McNicholas LLP law firm, which has filed a separate lawsuit against SCE.
The McNicholas law firm, Becker Law Group and Singleton Schreiber filed a lawsuit accusing SCE of negligence and urging that the utility be held accountable.
“The legal team has met with more than 500 victims over the past three days, with 95% experiencing complete burndowns,” a Jan. 16 post on the McNicholas law firm’s website says.