JUDGE BACK ON BENCH ENVIRONMENTAL GROUPS SAY CASE DISMISSAL ERROR.

Byline: ALEX DOBUZINSKIS Staff Writer

For months ago, Judge Dzintra Janavs lost an election to a Hermosa Beach woman with limited legal experience who ran a bagel shop.

On Friday, the Los Angeles Superior Court judge was officially re-appointed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. But two environmental groups complain that Janavs recently erred in dismissing their case.

The Santa Clarita Organization for Planning the Environment and the California Oak Foundation case against a proposed 160-acre Newhall business and industrial park was thrown out last month by Janavs, and they claim that the dismissal was a mistake since their side was due to be argued in court.

``I think a mistake on this (case) on the part of a judge is really questionable,'' said Lynne Plambeck, president of SCOPE, adding that Schwarzenegger should not have reappointed Janavs.

``It was a real slap in the face of the voters,'' she said.

An attorney for Gate King, the developer behind the contested industrial and business park project, also said the dismissal may have been an oversight, even though it was in favor of her client.

``It's unclear whether that dismissal was valid,'' said attorney Annie Mudge, adding that there may be other grounds for dismissal.

Janavs dismissed the case in favor of the defendants on Sept. 25, even though within a few days the plaintiffs were due to argue against a report that found there was enough water to support the project, said plaintiffs' attorney Babak Naficy, who was less critical of the judge than his clients.

``It's sort of a tempest in a teapot; I don't think this is a significant event because it's pretty clearly done by a simple kind of oversight error,'' he said. ``It's pretty rare, but these kind of mistakes do happen.''

Naficy is due to argue in court on Oct. 25, and before then he expects to ask the court to reverse the dismissal ruling.

Janavs had been widely endorsed in her race against challenger Lynn Diane Olson, who practiced commercial law for four years before opening a bagel shop in 1992. Janavs finished 8 percentage points behind Olson.

After Janavs' supporters rallied around the judge, Schwarzenegger announced in June that he would reappoint her. Schwarzenegger suggested Janavs lost because of her name and that he could relate -- since his own name is hard to pronounce.

Janavs was sworn in Friday at her Los Angeles courtroom, taking a seat vacated by a judge who had been promoted.

``Judge Janavs has a long and distinguished record as a jurist in Los Angeles County, and the governor is pleased to appoint a fine jurist who is highly and widely respected in the field,'' said Sabrina Lockhart, a spokeswoman for the governor.

Santa Clarita is a defendant in the lawsuit and has declared that water supplies are adequate for the Gate King industrial park. An attorney for the city said that because Naficy apparently submitted objection papers late, Janavs' dismissal ruling should stand.

``It's a real technical issue; whether or not it will be reinstated is unknown,'' said attorney Geralyn Skapik, of Burke, Williams and Sorensen. ``The judge will have to make a decision.''

The California Oak Foundation has argued that the project, on Sierra Highway south of San Fernando Road, would needlessly destroy oak trees. The courts decided against putting the oak trees ahead of the project, but the case continued to be litigated as both sides argued over water supplies.

Janet Cobb, president of the California Oak Foundation, joined Plambeck in slamming the judge's dismissal of their case.

``... For whatever reason, it's highly unusual that someone voted out of office would be reappointed and then would make this grave error,'' she said.

alex.dobuzinskis(at)dailynews.com

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