And yet more lawsuits fly over subway work.

New actions filed over Hollywood Blvd., Wilshire

Several new lawsuits were filed last month by a downtown Los Angeles law firm representing Hollywood Boulevard property owners who claim their buildings were damaged by Metro Rail subway tunneling.

The most valuable building involved in the new litigation is the 12-story, 240,123-square-foot KB Hollywood Center office tower across the street from Mann's Chinese Theater. The building, which houses a Hamburger Hamlet restaurant in its ground floor, is owned by Hollywood developer Stanley Black, his relatives and K Associates. In a claim filed with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority last year, Black estimated the damages to that building at $22 million.

The law firm filing the new cases against the MTA and its contractors - Hornberger & Criswell - has also filed two other cases on behalf of Black partnerships.

LBS Hollywood Partnership sued the MTA, contractor Shea Kiewit Kenny and construction manager Parsons-Dillingham over damage to a retail building on the northeast corner of Hudson Avenue and Hollywood Boulevard. Hornberger & Criswell attorney Bill Driscoll referred to this corner as the "50-yard line" for Metro Rail damage.

Also, K Associates sued the MTA, SKK and Parsons-Dillingham over damage to a retail building on the northwest corner of Cahuenga and Hollywood boulevards.

Quake repairs for naught

Also represented by Hornberger & Criswell is Edward Kang, the owner of a blue retail building just west of Hudson that has been red-tagged by the city as unsafe to enter.

Driscoll said Kang spent $80,000 fixing the building after the Northridge Earthquake and obtained city approval that the building was safe, only to watch it crack and crumble from the strain of subway construction.

The 20,000-square-foot building is now boarded up. Driscoll estimated the damage at $2.5 million.

Also now suing the MTA and its contractors, represented by Driscoll, are:

* Louis Kim, who owns the retail building at 6547 Hollywood Blvd. and the Outfitters wig shop that occupies the building;

* Bijan Dokhanian, who leases 8,000 square feet of retail space in a 24,050-square-foot building at 6630-34 Hollywood Blvd. from the owner and then subleases it to four tenants;

* And JJ&R, the owners of a commercial building that includes a theater at Cherokee Avenue and Hollywood Boulevard. Driscoll said this building was built by Cecil B. DeMille.

Plaintiffs allege malice

In all the cases, Driscoll alleges that the defendants acted maliciously because they knew, or should have known, that the tunneling as planned would result in property damage. He further alleges the contractors' conduct was "motivated solely by avarice, profit and greed."

Driscoll said there are several documents and reports that indicate the MTA knew there would be serious damage from tunneling but decided it would be cheaper to fix the damage later than to take precautions to prevent it.

Hollywood Boulevard sank as much as 10 inches in some places, causing the sidewalks and fronts of buildings to separate and slip toward the street, leaving large cracks and a slanted boulevard. Some estimate the damage exceeds $1 billion.

"They (the defendants) knew they were going to do it, and they have to pay," said Driscoll. "Their focus seems to be, 'Let's keep digging the tunnel as fast as we can.'"

The MTA and its attorneys do not comment on pending litigation.

New Wilshire cases filed

Meanwhile, lawyers who represent a coalition of some 600 Hollywood property and business owners still hadn't filed their long-awaited massive lawsuit at press time last week, but they did file a suit recently against the MTA, Parsons-Dillingham and contractor Tutor-Saliba-Perini on behalf of some Mid-Wilshire property owners.

Attorney Steve Zelig of Santa Monica and Tom Girardi of downtown Los Angeles filed on behalf of Ardmore Skylight Corp., 620 Ardmore Ave., Mid-Wilshire Management and Abe Oheb. The suit alleges the contractors, when tunneling under Wilshire Boulevard, were negligent and used defective equipment and substandard materials.

The Metro Rail tunnel under Wilshire Boulevard was completed last year and several cases were filed against the MTA in connection with that work in 1993 and 1994.

Meanwhile, Tutor-Saliba-Perini recently sued the MTA over work it did on two Wilshire subway stations, one of which is not complete yet.

Tutor alleges "as a result of defective (MTA) plans and specifications," the contractor had to perform extra work that the MTA now refuses to pay for. The MTA rejected four change orders, totaling $572,439, from Tutor. The largest change order for $451,000 is related to temporary deck entrance structures Tutor supplied at Wilshire and Western Avenue.

"The plans, drawing and specifications provided by the MTA were not accurate, did not correctly define the work required to construct the projects, and were not suitable for plaintiff's use in preparing reliable bids and in undertaking to complete the project," the suit alleges.