Attorney returns to firm he left to work for Reagan and Bush.

A month after announcing his resignation as U.S. Solicitor General, Theodore Olson has rejoined Gibson Dunn & Crutcher LLP as co-chairman of the appellate and constitutional law practice.

Olson, who will remain in Washington, resigned last month after serving three years as the top Justice Department lawyer for cases at the U.S. Supreme Court. A former partner at Los Angeles-based Gibson Dunn, Olson received the top post after successfully representing President Bush in the Bush v. Gore litigation over 2000 election results.

Olson will rejoin Gibson Dunn's appellate and constitutional law practice, which has grown to l0 attorneys in three offices since he formed the group a decade ago. "I originally started the group, and it's gone gangbusters," he said.

An attorney for Gibson Dunn from 1965 to 1981 in Los Angeles, Olson left to become legal advisor to President Ronald Reagan, preparing legal opinions on constitutional and separation-of-powers issues. Olson re-joined the firm in Washington and stayed until Bush appointed him Solicitor General in early 2001.

"It seemed like the only sensible thing to do," Olson said. "I always respected the firm. This would be the third time I decided to join it. Over the years, that was a good decision."

In a statement, Olson thanked Bush and Attorney General John Ashcroft for their efforts in the war on terrorism following Sept. 11. 2001. Olson's wife, Barbara, a political commentator and lawyer, died in the hijacked plane that crashed into the Pentagon.

Discrimination Claims Denied

A group of 10 African-American teen-agers claiming Six Flags Magic Mountain discriminated against them in 1999 have lost an appellate court ruling, despite the success of a similar case two years ago.

In the recent case, the teen-agers had just returned from the Roaring Rapids ride when guards accused them of cutting in line, according to the recent ruling.

After a security supervisor, citing company policy, demanded they leave the park, the teen-agers "became loud and angry," the ruling says. As the teen-agers were leaving, guards pushed one girl, handcuffed another girl and struck two others with batons.

The teens, including lead plaintiff Jason Winbush, sued in August 2000 for civil rights violations, negligence, battery, false imprisonment, malicious prosecution and emotional distress. They cited statistics from Magic Mountain's corporate office indicating that 55.7 percent of the individuals removed from the park for cutting in line in 1998 were black, while only 7.6 percent were white.

Two years ago, the same statistics helped plaintiff Danny Everett reinstate a similar case against Six Flags. That case began in 1998, when Everett had stepped out of line to the Colossus roller coaster to let family members in when a park employee accused him of violating the park's line-cutting policy. After a scuffle with a security guard, Everett was chained to a bench for two hours before being arrested for battery. Later acquitted, Everett sued for civil rights violations and other claims.

In 2002, on appeal, Everett introduced Magic Mountain's statistics, which Appellate Judge Howard Schwab ruled were "'sufficient to support an inference that Magic Mountain's ... neutral line cutting policy is applied in a discriminatory manner," according to the appellate ruling in that case.

On Feb. 17, a jury awarded Everett $55,000 in compensatory damages and $10,000 in punitive damages relating to his battery and malicious prosecution claims. The jury rejected Everett's civil rights claims, which he has appealed.

Associate Judge Fred Woods, of the 2nd Appellate District, said the statistics were irrelevant in the more recent case.

"Appellants' claim is not based on the line-cutting policy or being told to leave the park as was the case in Everett, but rather on the alleged violence inflicted on appellants when leaving the park," he wrote in the July 12 ruling. "Thus, them was no evidence of the practice of using violence against African-Americans."

In May, Six Flags Inc. paid $5.6 million to settle a similar class action suit involving 150 people who claimed the company's screening policy discriminates against blacks and Hispanics. Under the settlement, Six Flags eliminated the policy and established an L.A. County Sheriff's Department substation to conduct screening at the park.

Michael Amaro, a partner at Prindle Decker & Amaro LLP representing Six Flags, did not return phone calls.

James Jordan, an Encino attorney representing the 10 teen-agers, said he plans to appeal to the California Supreme Court.

More Manatt

Manatt Phelps & Phillips LLP has acquired an L.A. boutique firm specializing in land use and appellate litigation.

With the acquisition of Berger & Norton, the firm will add three partners, two associates and an attorney of counsel to its real estate litigation practice on Sept. 1. Two Berger associates are not joining Manatt Phelps.

Both firms share clients, including the Mills Corp. and Lehman Bros. Holdings Inc.

"We might be representing them in significant acquisitions and financing, and Berger might have represented them in specialty litigation," said Paul Irving, chief executive and managing partner of Manatt Phelps.

Staff reporter Amanda Bronstad can be reached at 323-549-5225 ext. 225, or at [e-mail].