Malibu loses lawsuit over Escondido Falls Trail ownership Play

The City of Malibu has lost a major lawsuit against the MRCA — because it waited too long to try to assert ownership of city streets and trails.

The lawsuit was quietly filed by the city, challenging the MRCA ownership of a trail easement up Winding Way to the waterfall in Escondido Canyon.

A judge in Los Angeles ruled that the Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority can continue to allow hikers to cross private property. He ruled that the MRCA can use an easement that the outside agency owns linking PCH to its property up the canyon.

Malibu, says the judge, waited too long to assert ownership of the Escondido Falls Trail. Also, a state law that transfers ownership of a public street to a newly-incorporated city does not apply to a recreational trail, the judge said.

The judge dismissed Malibu's claim as a "creative legal argument" that "strains credulity."

The judge said public policy would be undermined if some government entity could "suddenly assert legal ownership" after waiting 30 years and treating another government entity as the proper owner.

No comment yet from the city of Malibu.

The MRCA governing board's chairman, George Lange, put his name on an MRCA press release. "This decision provides clarity about the ownership and management of these public trails and allows us to continue our work protecting these lands and maintaining public access," he reportedly said, according to the MRCA press release.