pray4surf wrote:
....
So let's address the 'unstable hillsides w/ inadequate terracing/shoring'...

Is it the homeowner's fault? No... (Unless they had performed un-permitted
work)

Is it the builders fault? Maybe... the 10 year limit on construction defect
litigation has easily expired...

Is it the cities fault? After all, the city approved the work and 'signed
off' on it. Well, the city is going to absolve themselves of any liability.

In essence, the homeowners are screwed...

Act of god? - Apparently so...

Well, my opinion is it's the "fault" of all the human entities above...a
combination of short-sideness and various forms of human nature which
can generally lumped together under the term "greed" in a global sense.
I don't mean to ascribe malfeasance, simply the desire of all involved
to get something they want as cheaply as they can w/o adequate
consideration for the "big picture". If, otoh, one were to
dispassionately step back and look at what happens on these hillsides
over a period of, say, a couple of hundred years, factor in the
pressures of additional run off caused by the building and do an
adequate analysis of the soil mechanics, it would become clear that such
"disasters" are, in fact, man-made and inevitable, not "Acts of God"
(except in the sense legal that insurance companies use the phrase).

So, yes, imo "the homeowners are screwed..."--they're the ones who
ultimately chose to get something they wanted at a short term price w/o
adequately considering potential long term costs...now, like life or
health insurance, that may be a risk they're willing to take, but, if
one's in such an area, it shouldn't take too much imagination to
figure out what could happen if...