Failed Los Angeles mayoral candidate Spencer Pratt will take on Mayor Karen Bass in a lawsuit over the deadly wildfires that destroyed countless homes.
But he has teamed up with an unlikely ally – Bass’s own brother, Kenneth.
Kenneth Bass, 78, signed onto the massive lawsuit filed in Los Angeles Superior Court on May 18, claiming they suffered physical injuries and emotional distress after the Palisades fire burned down his Malibu home, according to LA Material.
Pratt, who has been an outspoken critic of the mayor’s response to the deadly fire, has since praised Kenneth for taking action.
‘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,’ he posted on social media on Sunday.
‘I hope their Thanksgiving dinner isn’t too awks,’ he continued. ‘I know ours hasn’t been the same since last year.’
In the original suit, which Pratt and his wife Heidi Montag signed onto in January, residents accused the Department of Water and Power of contributing to the devastation left by the Palisades fire with a water system that could not sustain pressure to fight the blaze and an electrical system that was dangerous and fire-prone in red-flag weather conditions.
It claims the DWP made ‘the conscious decision to operate the water supply system with the reservoir drained and unusable as a “cost-saving measure”‘ during the deadly LA fires.
The complaint also accuses agencies including DWP, Southern California Edison and the California Department of Parks and Recreation of engaging in a ‘campaign of misinformation and misrepresentations’ in the months following the fire in an attempt to ‘conceal their responsibility for their disaster.’
Failed mayoral candidate Spencer Pratt has been an outspoken critic of Los Angeles’ response to the deadly Palisades fire last year
He has now teamed up with Mayor Karen Bass’ own brother in a lawsuit taking on city departments for their response
Pratt, who has been an outspoken critic of the mayor’s response to the deadly fire, has praised Kenneth for taking action
Lawyers for the city and DWP have denied the allegations of wrongdoing and in an April 1 filing offered a litany of general defenses, including that the city has some immunity from the claims and that ‘no negligent or wrongful act’ by the city led to the fire damage.
‘Our office remains confident in the city’s overall position that it is not liable for these disastrous wildfires,’ Ivor Pine, a spokesman for the LA City Attorney’s Office told LA Material.
Bass’s office has also seemingly shrugged off her brother’s involvement in the lawsuit.
‘There’s nothing new here – Mayor Bass has spoken of her brother’s loss publicly since January of 2025,’ a spokesperson for the mayor said.
‘Thousands of people are plaintiffs in this action, which names 18 public and private sector defendants,’ the spokesperson noted.
Kenneth purchased his home in Malibu in the 1980s and put it on the market in 2025, after the Palisades fire burned through more than 23,000 acres, destroying more than 6,800 structures and killing a dozen people.
The listing last year noted the 55,000 square foot lot had been cleared of debris and that the fire spared the pool house.
The property ultimately sold for $2 million, and Kenneth and his wife moved to Los Angeles.
The Palisades fire burned through more than 23,000 acres, destroying more than 6,800 structures and killing a dozen people
A sign reading “Fire Mayor Bass” is pictured on a construction site in the Palisades, nearly a year after wildfires destroyed dozens of houses in the Los Angeles neighborhood
The mayor has publicly spoken out about her brother’s loss.
‘My brother who lived in Malibu for 40 years has been through many fires, evacuated many times – this time he couldn’t get away,’ she said at a Palisades City Council meeting last January as she shared her condolences to those affected by the fires, LA Magazine reports.
‘It was my family home where we went on the holidays,’ Bass continued. ‘It’s a type of shock and grief that is trauma, it will be with us a long time.’
The mayor has since repeatedly claimed she is ‘absolutely committed’ to rebuilding the structures affected by the Palisades Fire.
She is now running against progressive challenger Nithya Raman to retain her seat, after Pratt failed to gain enough votes to move onto the general election.
In a social media post last week, Pratt said he is ‘moving on to the next more interesting phase.
‘Listen, I spent a lot of time slaying everybody. I’ve ridiculed everyone on the roster,’ he said of his campaign’s accomplishments in a video posted to Instagram.
‘I know a lot of dimwit jerks thought I was in this for a grift, that I was gonna roll up and leave town if I didn’t get into City Hall,’ Pratt continued.
‘Hey morons, I didn’t get in this for political power. I got into [it to] expose the corrupt machine and nothing has changed.’
He then declared that it was ‘zero hour’ and a ‘war’ was coming ahead of the election.
The Daily Mail has reached out to Bass and the city attorney’s office for comment.
