The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power is dusting off a 114-year-old court ruling to argue the utility can’t be sued for not providing enough water to fight the monstrous Pacific Palisades fire because it didn’t have a contract to do so. Attorneys from Munger, Tolles & Olson, a Los Angeles law firm, are relying on a 1911 California Supreme Court decision to defend the LADWP against multiple lawsuits blaming the utility for running out of water to fight the blaze that started Jan. 7. Simply put, attorneys argue, the utility didn’t have a contract to provide the water. “California courts have long rejected attempts to hold water utilities liable for a failure to provide water to fight fires, absent some specific contract to do so,” wrote LADWP lawyers in a document submitted to the court.