JUDGE REINSTATES 3 MARINA LAWSUITS SMALL BOAT OWNERS CHALLENGING DEVELOPER INFLUENCE.Byline: Troy Anderson Staff Writer A judge on Thursday reinstated three lawsuits that claim Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. County public officials were unduly influenced by residential developers in Marina del Rey Del Rey may refer to:
The suits are among six filed by taxpayer advocate attorney Richard Fine on behalf of small boat owners, who allege To state, recite, assert, or charge the existence of particular facts in a Pleading or an indictment; to make an allegation. allege v. they were squeezed out of the marina at the behest be·hest n. 1. An authoritative command. 2. An urgent request: I called the office at the behest of my assistant. of developers who need their parking spaces to build luxury residential complexes. The lawsuits question the developers' influence with the county, noting that developers have spent $1.3 million in the last decade lobbying and making campaign contributions to the Board of Supervisors. The lawsuits also allege taxpayers have lost hundreds of millions of dollars in lease revenues because county officials have undervalued Undervalued A stock or other security that is trading below its true value. Notes: The difficulty is knowing what the "true" value actually is. Analysts will usually recommend an undervalued stock with a strong buy rating. the 804-acre county-owned marina. Superior Court Judge Soussan G. Bruguera dismissed the suits in October, saying taxpayers did not have a right to bring the suits because no ``collusion'' was shown between the lessees and the county. But Fine argued the county had admitted in a 1980 lawsuit that the lessees at the marina were agents of the county. Fine hailed the ruling Thursday and said he will now amend those suits to include additional information. The county then will file its arguments against the amendments and the judge will hold another hearing to decide whether to dismiss the cases or proceed to trial. Principal Deputy County Counsel Thomas Faughnan said the judge's ruling was not unexpected. ``Judges routinely give their plaintiffs a number of opportunities to amend their complaints,'' Faughnan said. ``We believe, though, that ultimately she will sustain them without leave to amend and that we will prevail on the merits on the merits adj. referring to a judgment, decision or ruling of a court based upon the facts presented in evidence and the law applied to that evidence. A judge decides a case "on the merits" when he/she bases the decision on the fundamental issues and considers .'' Troy Anderson, (213) 974-8985 troy.anderson(at)dailynews.com |
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