CARUSO TO GET MILLIONS MORE SUIT: GLENDALE GALLERIA OWNER SOCKED WITH PUNITIVE DAMAGES IN FIGHT AGAINST DEVELOPER.

Byline: Alex Dobuzinskis

Staff Writer

A jury Tuesday told the owner of the Glendale Galleria to pay $15 million in punitive damages to developer Rick Caruso for trying to keep a restaurant from opening in his outdoor mall.

The punitive damages come on top of a $74 million judgment against Galleria owner General Growth Properties that the same Los Angeles Superior Court jury issued last week. The verdict is the latest round in a long battle between General Growth and Caruso over his Americana at Brand mall, which is being built next to the Galleria in Glendale.

"The most important thing is that we were vindicated," Caruso said after the verdict.

"It sends a message to this industry that you've got to play fair."

During the seven-week trial, Caruso's attorneys argued that General Growth illegally threatened the Cheesecake Factory after it planned to open as an anchor tenant in the Americana mall.

Fearing that General Growth would block it from opening in one of the company's 200 malls across the country, the Cheesecake Factory dragged its feet in coming to the Americana, forcing an 18-month construction delay for the center, said David Silva, an attorney for Caruso Affiliated.

Before Tuesday's verdict, David Battaglia, an attorney for General Growth, asked jurors to award no punitive damages at all. The $74 million in compensatory damages is enough, given that General Growth is a publicly traded company and some investors bank their retirement on it, he said.

"You awarded the plaintiff every last dollar that he asked for," Battaglia said. "Anything further is a windfall for the plaintiff and does harm to the people -- millions of people -- who hold stock in the company."

But juror Jaime Gonzalez, 33, of Boyle Heights said after the verdict that the company had to be punished.

"It's like a bully beating up a little kid on the school playground," Gonzalez said. "Time out isn't enough."

The jury of 10 women and two men deliberated for about 45 minutes Tuesday before coming back with its $15 million judgment, bringing the total amount that General Growth will have to pay Caruso to nearly $90 million.

The jury voted 9-3 Tuesday to award punitive damages. Adrianette Anderson, 32, of Angeleno Heights was one of the jurors who voted not to award Caruso any damages on top of the compensatory damages of $74 million.

"I felt the amount that he asked for, he got -- the ultimate amount, the highest amount -- and I felt that that would suffice," Anderson said.

The Americana at Brand, a 15.5-acre project with shops and apartments, is being built at Brand Boulevard and Harvard Street. It is scheduled to open in April 2008.

alex.dobuzinskis(at)dailynews.com

818-546-3304