Too Fun to Check: Karen Bass Gets Sued By Spencer Pratt and … Her Brother?

Talk about going scorched earth. In this case, literally.

It turns out that Spencer Pratt is not the only one blaming Karen Bass for the gross negligence and incompetence that led to the Palisades and Alta Dena fires in January 2025. Pratt announced yesterday that he would follow up his oh-so-close run at the mayoral election with a lawsuit targeting her Los Angeles administration, seeking to recover damages for the massive losses he incurred. And as it turns out, Pratt has some pretty impressive company (via PJM):

I am proud to be teaming up with Karen Bass’ brother in suing his sister for her reckless negligence that led to the destruction of our homes. I hope their Thanksgiving dinner isn’t too awks. I know ours hasn’t been the same since last year… pic.twitter.com/d8YyGjJ775

— Spencer Pratt (@spencerpratt) June 14, 2026

Pratt isn’t exactly “teaming up” with Kenneth Bass. The mayor’s brother has joined what looks like a class-action lawsuit, while Pratt and his wife Heidi Montag are pursuing a separate claim. However, based on the legal arguments in both actions, Pratt and Kenneth Bass apparently agree that Mayor Bass was negligent and incompetent, along with a number of other city and state officials:

Spencer Pratt has claimed he is “teaming up” with Karen Bass’s brother after they both launched lawsuits against the city she runs over the fire that burnt their homes down.

The former reality TV star, who lost his bid to become the next LA mayor last week, slammed her “reckless negligence” that he claims allowed to Palisades Fires to rage. …

While Pratt hasn’t joined an official lawsuit with Kenneth Bass, he appears to be referring to the separate lawsuit he filed against the city last year.

He and his wife Heidi Montag sued LA and the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power on Jan. 21, 2025, after their Pacific Palisades home was destroyed in the Palisades Fire, which erupted on Jan. 7.

Their lawsuit alleges the city and utility failed to maintain an adequate water supply for firefighting efforts, contributing to the loss of homes and property. The case is still in discovery.

The Los Angeles Times picked up the familial connection in legal action against Bass and other respondents last week. Bass and her team tried to claim this was “nothing new,” as it had been known that her brother was one of the victims of the wildfires and that his Malibu house had been totally destroyed. However, the lawsuit is relatively new, as the LAT points out, and it’s certainly newsworthy:

Kenneth Bass, 78, and his wife, Cindy, filed their suit in L.A. County Superior Court on May 18, according to court records first reported on by L.A. Material. The couple allege that they suffered smoke inhalation injuries, emotional distress and mental anguish as a result of the fire, which destroyed their Malibu home, according to the complaint.

Their claims are being processed as part of a master lawsuit alleging that numerous public entities and utility companies — including the city, the state, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, the California Department of Parks and Recreation and Southern California Edison — bear responsibility for the harms residents suffered in the 2025 Palisades fire, which destroyed more than 6,500 structures and killed 12 people. Lawyers for both the city and LADWP have repeatedly denied responsibility for the losses. 

Bass can pretend this is just business as usual, but it’s a big deal, both legally and politically. Kenneth Bass will have to argue that his own sister failed to do her job in order to succeed in his lawsuit. And what’s more, he’ll be absolutely correct. Bass and her administration left a key reservoir unfilled despite the risks of fire in that region. Bass got warned that the wind and weather conditions made the risks critical, and left the country to participate in a diplomatic event that had nothing to do with the city. She left the city despite the deputy mayor being suspended for allegedly calling in a hoax threat to City Hall, which left the LA Fire Department and other response agencies with no municipal leadership in place. 

There’s no way Kenneth’s lawsuit can avoid those issues, unless he likes losing in court. The other respondents in this suit will attempt to shift responsibility to the city government run by his sister. Unless Kenneth makes the case against Karen, he’ll lose by default. Just the fact that Kenneth filed the lawsuit makes it very clear that his official legal position is that his sister helped destroy a significant part of the city she runs, and that should create a massive political liability for Karen.

It certainly would have done so, had Pratt made it to the general election. With Nithya Raman as the main opponent, that’s not as clear. Raman serves on the city council, which is part of the entities named as respondents to these lawsuits. That’s the real absurdity of the Los Angeles mayoral primary: the two people who made it to the general election both share responsibility for the disasters that struck the city over the last four years, and not just in the fires that devastated key portions of its tax base. 

Pratt is not taking the loss lying down, but the chance for electoral accountability is largely gone now. Legal accountability is all that’s left, and maybe paying through the nose on these settlements will punish Los Angeles voters enough to force them to take a rational approach four years from now. Unless something drastic happens, the next four years are lost already. 

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