VISTA -- Vista and Oceanside will each pay $62,500 to settle an insurance company's lawsuit over flood damage to an assisted-living facility sparked by heavy rain in October 2004, officials for both cities said Thursday.

The plaintiff, United States Fire Insurance Co., originally sought more than $1.1 million in damages, said Tarquin Preziosi, Oceanside's senior deputy city attorney.

As record-setting rain pummeled North County on Oct. 20, 2004, floodwaters poured into the Atria Buena Vista Assisted Living Community, near the Oceanside-Vista border, forcing the evacuation of more than two dozen first-floor residents.

A nearby box culvert "was pretty much completely blocked where no water could get into the drain at all," said Roxanne Gooding, the facility's executive director.

United States Fire Insurance Co. provided insurance coverage to the facility.

An attorney for that company did not return calls for comment Thursday, but the complaint alleged that Oceanside and Vista allowed stormwater to escape the area's drainage system and knew -- or should have known -- that the box culvert was "dangerous and defective."

Oceanside's position was that the box culvert was undersized, was not located within Oceanside's city limits, was on private property, and was the property owner's responsibility to maintain, Preziosi said.

The two cities admitted no liability and "presented a united defense in this front," Preziosi added.

Because the settlement figure represented a small fraction of the potential damages and fees, "I would characterize it as a victory," Preziosi said.

Oceanside's City Council voted unanimously in closed session Wednesday to approve the settlement, Preziosi said. Vista's council had approved the settlement with a unanimous vote weeks ago, but the terms were not made public until all parties had signed the agreement, Pieper said.

"We agreed to split (the damages) equally in order to settle the matter and avoid the costs of going to trial since we would not be able to recover our legal fees even though we expected that we would ultimately prevail at trial," Vista City Attorney Darold Pieper wrote in an e-mail to the North County Times.

Pieper said questions about the potential for future flooding in the area should be directed to the property owners.

"They own the box culvert and the drainage channel; the two cities do not own, operate or maintain the drainage system that was privately constructed and is entirely located on private property," Pieper said.

Gooding said the facility staff has been monitoring the culvert so it doesn't clog up again.

"It's completely clear of any debris," she said.

Contact staff writer Craig TenBroeck at (760) 631-6621 or ctenbroeck@nctimes.com.