HOMEOWNERS TAKE COMPLAINT PUBLIC; FRUSTRATION MOUNTS OVER QUAKE REPAIRS.

Byline: Angela M. Lemire Staff Writer

Frustrated by their inability to recoup costly earthquake repair expenses from The Newhall Land and Farming Company, a local homeowners association is waging a legal and public relations battle against the company on two fronts: before a jury and at the corner of McBean Parkway and Tournament Road.

The Franciscan Hill Homeowners Association, which serves 71 condominiums on McBean Parkway in Valencia, will face Newhall Land and its homebuilder division, the Valencia Company, in a Los Angeles Superior courtroom Jan. 3 to begin jury selection for a civil trial expected to last two months, lawyers said Tuesday. The residents are joined in their suit by State Farm Insurance, as the two parties seek a combined $15 million in damages from expenses incurred from the 1994 Northridge Earthquake, plus court costs, said attorney Kelly G. Richardson of Richardson & Harman, LLP.

But a press conference on homeowner-owned land at the McBean Parkway and Tournament Road interchange Tuesday morning previewed legal arguments to come, as Franciscan Hill homeowners unveiled a painted sign with an ``open letter'' to Newhall Land that expressed residents' frustrations about having to go to trial, rather than reach a settlement.

The message reads: ``Dear Newhall Land: We paid for YOUR mistakes! Six years later, why do you still not take responsibility??? Regretfully, Our Suffering Homeowners.''

``It's a shame we had to put this sign up after all this time,'' said homeowner association President Joe Nebelsky.

Richardson denied that Tuesday's press conference was organized to press a settlement before the trial in three weeks, or influence potential jurors. ``Jurors won't be pulled from Valencia. They'll be coming from central Los Angeles,'' he said.

Nebelsky and Richardson said frustrations stemmed from the inability to obtain a settlement offer from Newhall Land.

The co-plaintiffs claim that Newhall Land and Valencia Company builders were negligent while constructing Franciscan Hill condominiums and left defects in building structures that could not stand up to the powerful quake, which measured a 6.7 on seismology scales. Thirty-one of the development's 71 units were eventually bulldozed and rebuilt with insurance money.

Like other residents, Nebelsky's personal hardship consisted of nearly three years of lost rental revenues while two units he owned underwent ground-up reconstruction, he said. Many other residents declared bankruptcy, having had to pay rent elsewhere while continuing mortgage payments on their condos, he added.

But Newhall Land maintains that extreme and unprecedented vertical forces from the quake heavily damaged the condominiums - not faulty building structures, according to company spokeswoman Marlee Lauffer.

She noted that the same earthquake caused more than $30 million in damages to California Institute of the Arts just across the street, and extensive damage to the Golden State Freeway corridor less than one mile away.

Lauffer declined further comment on Franciscan Hill's ``open letter'' Tuesday, saying the company ``is in litigation and does not want to try the case in the media.''

CAPTION(S):

Photo

PHOTO Franciscan Hill homeowners unveil an open letter to The Newhall Land and Farming Company expressing frustration with negotiations.

Shaun Dyer/Staff Photographer