“Pham_9-24-22_481231” by Karen Bass For Mayor, Public Domain Mark

The radical leftist leadership in Los Angeles is collapsing under the weight of its own sheer incompetence, and the latest twist is so wild that if it were in a movie, nobody would believe it.

Far-left LA Mayor Karen Bass is facing the ultimate humiliation: her own brother has joined a massive lawsuit against the city over the catastrophic Pacific Palisades Fire.

The January 2025 Pacific Palisades fire was the most destructive wildfire in Los Angeles history, claiming 12 lives, destroying or damaging nearly 8,000 structures, and burning through entire neighborhoods. It was a tragedy that didn’t have to happen—but the city’s radical leadership left LA completely vulnerable.

As we previously reported, while the National Weather Service was screaming from the rooftops about extreme, dangerous Santa Ana wind conditions, Mayor Karen Bass was literally on the other side of the world, rubbing elbows on a diplomatic junket in Ghana.

When the fire broke out and predictably spiraled out of control, the city’s response was an absolute trainwreck. Since then, the Bass administration has been caught in a web of lies, cover-ups, and finger-pointing to protect the Mayor’s political future.

29-year-old Jonathan Rinderknecht of Orlando, Florida, was arrested for intentionally setting the Palisades fire. Rinderknecht was an Uber driver at the time he intentionally set the fire.

Kenneth Bass and his wife Cindy have joined thousands of victims in a sweeping class action lawsuit against the City of Los Angeles, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP), the state of California, and multiple other entities, according to NBC Los Angeles.

“Mr. and Mrs. Bass’ names were formally added as some of the nearly 40,000 victims who suffered losses,” attorneys for Kenneth and Cindy Bass told the news outlet. “(As) non-public citizens they are entitled to respectful privacy as they pursue their legal rights along with all represented victims.”

Their longtime Malibu home overlooking the Pacific Ocean was reduced to ashes in the January 2025 Palisades Fire. Court documents bluntly describe the property as a “total burn down.”

The couple is demanding damages for the complete destruction of their home, smoke inhalation injuries, and severe emotional distress and mental anguish.

The complaint was formally filed May 18, 2026, in Los Angeles County Superior Court as part of a massive mass tort action involving nearly 40,000 victims.

The lawsuit slams the city and LADWP for leaving the Santa Ynez Reservoir — a critical 117-million-gallon water storage facility — completely empty as the fire erupted. Firefighters were left without adequate water pressure while homes burned. The complaint ties this failure directly to the city’s mismanagement of its water infrastructure.

Los Angeles Department of Water and Power’s (DWP) officials claim the reservoir had been offline for “a while” due to a tear in its cover.

This is the same city run by Mayor Karen Bass, who has spent years pushing radical environmental and budget priorities while basic public safety infrastructure crumbled.

The fire’s toll was catastrophic.

The Palisades Fire tore through Pacific Palisades, Topanga, and into Malibu, killing 12 people, destroying thousands of structures, and causing billions in damage across more than 23,000 acres. Victims went from homeowners to homeless in a matter of hours.

It follows the explosive lawsuit from former LAFD Chief Kristin Crowley, who accused Bass of cutting fire department resources, shifting blame, and orchestrating retaliation after the deadly response. Bass’s administration has faced relentless criticism for prioritizing everything except basic fire preparedness and infrastructure.

Bass is currently fighting for re-election in a November runoff. This lawsuit from her own brother’s family adds another humiliating layer of exposure for an administration already defined by chaos, rising crime, homelessness, and now deadly fire mismanagement.

Jim Hᴏft Jim Hᴏft is the founder and editor of The Gateway Pundit, one of the top conservative news outlets in America. Jim was awarded the Reed Irvine Accuracy in Media Award in 2013 and is the proud recipient of the Breitbart Award for Excellence in Online Journalism from the Americans for Prosperity Foundation in May 2016.

You can email Jim Hᴏft here, and read more of Jim Hᴏft's articles here.

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