Los Angeles is getting $400,000 to settle its lawsuit against real estate developer Geoffrey H. Palmer over a massive fire at a downtown construction site that damaged city property, city officials announced Tuesday.
The money is a tiny fraction of the $20 million that the city had originally sought in the case for damages tied to the 2014 fire, which sent flames roaring seven stories high, shut down part of a downtown freeway and roused homeless people from their sleep blocks away.
But Rob Wilcox, a spokesman for City Atty. Mike Feuer, said the city believes it has nonetheless recouped all its costs because its total losses were lower than earlier estimated.