Gavin Newsom and Karen Bass Just Lost Big in Court Over the Palisades Fire

California Governor Gavin Newsom and L.A. Mayor Karen Bass are trying, hard, to absolve themselves of any responsibility for the Pacific Palisades wildfire. They blamed everything from wind to climate change to President Trump but the reality is their incompetent leadership made the fire much worse than it had to be.

Now the California Court of Appeals has denied the writ petitions filed by the state and city, which appealed a trial court's denial of their demurrers to the master complaint of fire victims. This was the last hope for Newsom and Bass to avoid discovery in the massive lawsuit brought against them by residents of the Pacific Palisades. The suit alleges that government negligence in water supply, prior fire suppression, brush clearance, and infrastructure failures exacerbated the fire, which caused widespread damage.

#BREAKING NEWS🚨 The California Court of Appeal just DENIED the writ petitions filed by the State of Calfornia and City of Los Angeles. The City and State have lost their appeal to overturn the trial court's denial of their demurrers to the fire victims' master complaint. The… pic.twitter.com/aHaqa2RGXl
— 415FirePhoto (@415FirePhoto) May 6, 2026

The entire post reads, "The justices also denied the States' request for a stay of the case. The City and State have played all of their cards and lost. The case now moves forward full speed."

Hopefully, this means accountability from Newsom and Bass, and justice for the victims.

THE cause of this fire spread turning into a catastrophe was gross negligence; lack of water, failure to enforce existing clearance statuets in Calif Public Resource Codes (4290 & 4291), number of front line engines out of service, lack of patrol units during high fire risk,…
— Tim McClelland (@Chiefmac3500) May 7, 2026

McClelland is a retired unit chief with CAL Fire, too.

Mayor Bass and Governor Newsom just played their LAST CARD to avoid discovery in the Palisades Fire lawsuit… AND LOST.

We’re going to discovery.
We’re going to see the deleted Mayor Bass texts AND all city and state attempts to manipulate, conspire and manipulate information… https://t.co/Zc8E6MfBCq
— Jeremy Padawer (@JeremyCom) May 6, 2026

"We’re going to see the deleted Mayor Bass texts AND all city and state attempts to manipulate, conspire and manipulate information and data to avoid accountability," Padawer wrote. "I believe the only question (after we review all discovery) will become whether this fire was merely gross negligence or criminal negligence on behalf of our leadership. They tried EVERYTHING to avoid this moment."

Wild times to be in the CA Insurance Industry.... there are seeeeevvvvveral insurance companies in on this, hoping to claim subrogation against responsible parties (LADWP, SCE, State of CA & City of LA) and be able to slightly replenish their coffers. This could potentially lead… https://t.co/0p34F7I80C
— Feral Housewife (@FeralHWife85) May 7, 2026

"This could potentially lead to more carriers coming back to the market (not you, State Farm). This is essentially a win for not just the victims of the fires, but every household that carries homeowners insurance," the post reads.