TROUBLE IN PARADISE; DISGRUNTLED GOLFERS SUE COUNTRY CLUB.Byline: Peter Hartlaub Daily News Staff Writer Like gophers at a golf course, Porter Valley Country Club has the kind of problem that lurks beneath the surface - invisible to those who walk by its preened fairways, but destructive nonetheless. Ninety-five members are suing the club, claiming it broke a pledge to limit the number of memberships. They want a court order to keep it to 600, although the club contends only 637 belong. It may seem like the type of dispute Judge Judy For the person off screen, see . Judge Judy is an American syndicated reality-based "court," or "syndi-court" show, featuring former family court judge, Judith Sheindlin, arbitrating over small claims cases. could decide in 15 minutes on her syndicated TV show. But after less than a year in 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. Superior Court, the case has generated 18 volumes of documents - each twice as thick as a phone book - that are packed in boxes and have to be wheeled from courtroom to courtroom in a shopping cart. In an unusual move that enraged en·rage tr.v. en·raged, en·rag·ing, en·rag·es To put into a rage; infuriate. [Middle English *enragen, from Old French enrager : en-, causative pref. some plaintiffs and caused many to drop out of the lawsuit, Porter Valley management late last year started charging them for the club's legal fees - right alongside the tab for cocktails, golf lessons and cart rentals. It all leads members to portray the legal battle against the club and its billion-dollar parent corporation, Clubcorp International, in Biblical terms, with comparisons to David and Goliath David and Goliath are figures of a well-known tale in the Bible (1 Samuel 17, in most English language versions), wherein David, an Israelite shepherd-boy and future King of Israel. . ``We want to see their books. We just don't trust them,'' said one golfer, who asked not to be identified because he fears legal retribution. ``I may end up paying, but by God I'm going to stay until the end.'' Club officials deny any wrongdoing wrong·do·er n. One who does wrong, especially morally or ethically. wrong  do and said they have been making great efforts to keep members from enduring the backlogs associated with public golf courses. As a result, they said, course play has gotten better. But with new members paying $15,000 to join and dues at more than $300 per month, the golfers said Porter Valley still isn't a place where everybody knows your name. They contend planned two-hour outings are still turning into four-hour odysseys, with strangers on the course breaking club etiquette. One retiree who sits in the clubhouse every Tuesday to ``play pinochle pinochle (pē`nŭ'kəl), card game, probably derived from bezique, that was developed in the United States in the 19th cent. Pinochle is played by two, three, or four players, with a deck of 48 cards containing two each of the aces, face with the guys'' said the club has lost its feel of exclusivity. ``When I watch people come and go, they're not members,'' he said. Trouble in paradise Porter Valley's emerald-green links wind in and out of the upscale Porter Ranch neighborhood, offering stellar views of the San Fernando Valley San Fernando Valley Valley, southern California, U.S. Northwest of central Los Angeles, the valley is bounded by the San Gabriel, Santa Susana, and Santa Monica mountains and the Simi Hills. from one of its northernmost points. Golfers stroll along the plush fairways and tightly groomed greens, which appear too placid plac·id adj. 1. Undisturbed by tumult or disorder; calm or quiet. See Synonyms at calm. 2. Satisfied; complacent. [Latin placidus, from to be at the center of a no-holds-barred, no-end-in-sight legal battle. Porter Valley General Manager James Swieter, for one, can't wait until it's over. ``We're trying to do the right thing. We'd like to have this behind us,'' he said. ``The member is king. We keep that in the forefront, and we practice it.'' In court papers, however, Porter Valley's lawyers have made clear their if-you-don't-like-it-leave approach, pointing out that the club is privately run, and not subject to any kind of member-based democracy. Or as one lawyer said in a motion: ``Members can always resign from Porter Valley if they are not content.'' Lawyers for each side - Tom O'Leary for the golfers, Perry Hughes for the club - declined to comment. The issues The golfers said they were promised in 1987 that memberships would top out at 620. Claiming to have membership information from a former employee, they contend the number increased to 662 in 1988 and 731 in 1995. Porter Valley disputes the figures, but said in court papers that the club is trimming its numbers, adopting a ``one member in for every two members out'' strategy. Swieter said the company currently has 637 golfing memberships, which already exceeds this year's goal to reduce the total by 25. He said any backlogs on the golf course may be caused by factors other than the membership limit, such a the new ``I'm-Tiger-Woods'' phenomenon that has brought younger family members out to the fairways. The golfers call Porter Valley's actions a ``conspiracy,'' and ask for the recovery of ``secret profits'' that the club and its owner allegedly have been reaping at the expense of its members, according to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. the lawsuit. In response, the club lawyers said the complaint - recently revised for the third time - was ``littered with scurrilous and verifiably false allegations'' and ``contains all the indicia Signs; indications. Circumstances that point to the existence of a given fact as probable, but not certain. For example, indicia of partnership are any circumstances which would induce the belief that a given person was in reality, though not technically, a member of a given of a meritless lawsuit filed for the purpose of harassment Ask a Lawyer Question Country: United States of America State: Nevada I recently moved to nev.from abut have been going back to ca. every 2 to 3 weeks for med. .'' The legal dispute has been worked on by more than a half-dozen lawyers and has passed through the courtrooms of several judges. Both sides blame the other for the voluminous litigation An action brought in court to enforce a particular right. The act or process of bringing a lawsuit in and of itself; a judicial contest; any dispute. When a person begins a civil lawsuit, the person enters into a process called litigation. , which has swelled because of several revisions and back-and-forth attempts to get the case thrown out of court. Stuck with the bill Porter Valley's bylaws The rules and regulations enacted by an association or a corporation to provide a framework for its operation and management. Bylaws may specify the qualifications, rights, and liabilities of membership, and the powers, duties, and grounds for the dissolution of an state that members who sue the club must pay its attorneys fees. Starting in December, the club started billing those fees on the ``house account'' of each plaintiff in the lawsuit. Some of those tabs are in the court records, with monthly attorneys fees of up to $950, sometimes twice as high as the rest of the bill. Porter Valley management said fees for their lawyers just passed $600,000 total. In one of several letters to Porter Valley management included in court records, a longtime club member was incensed with the bill he received in January. ``If this is an intimidation tactic it is not working with me,'' he said. ``Please remove from my billing statement all references to attorneys fees which Porter Valley Country Club has no legal right to collect.'' Swieter said club officials had the golfers' interests in mind when they started including the legal bills on the accounts. ``What we tried to do is basically notify members of the fees instead of blind-siding them,'' he said. L. Louis Mrachek, a Florida-based attorney who specializes in country club litigation, was surprised by the tactic. ``I've never heard of that before,'' the attorney said. ``That's close to unconscionable Unusually harsh and shocking to the conscience; that which is so grossly unfair that a court will proscribe it. When a court uses the word unconscionable to describe conduct, it means that the conduct does not conform to the dictates of conscience. . I'd think there would be a challenge to that.'' There was, and although both sides claim the judge ruled in their favor on the issue earlier this year, bills for more recent attorney fees have been sent to members by letter, not placed on the house account. The golfers' lawyers called the billing an ``intimidation strategy'' - one that would appear to be working. Several golfers in the lawsuit were willing to comment for this article, but didn't want their names used, pointing to a libel and slander libel and slander, in law, types of defamation. In common law, written defamation was libel and spoken defamation was slander. Today, however, there are no such clear definitions. lawsuit Clubcorp filed against a North Carolina North Carolina, state in the SE United States. It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean (E), South Carolina and Georgia (S), Tennessee (W), and Virginia (N). Facts and Figures Area, 52,586 sq mi (136,198 sq km). Pop. club member over his newspaper letter criticizing the company. ``What they do is they take their financial position and throw it at little individuals like myself,'' said one golfer in the lawsuit. ``I see that as a challenge. The people left in this are in it for the long run.'' Fine print important, joiners told Joining a country club shouldn't be fraught with any more peril than signing a car lease or adopting a puppy, experts say. Reading the fine print and weighing your options are the two most important things to do before signing on the dotted line. ``The first, last and only thing you can tell people is read the documents very carefully,'' said L. Louis Mrachek, a Florida-based lawyer who specializes in country club litigation. ``If you don't understand, call a lawyer.'' Mrachek said a typical country club contract can have boilerplate A phrase or body of text used verbatim in different documents such as a signature at the end of a letter. Boilerplate is widely used in the legal profession as many paragraphs are used over and over in agreements with little modification or no modification. language that goes on for 70 pages. When reading closely, applicants may find that the rules are unacceptable for their lifestyles. Mrachek added that country clubs and social clubs are ``creatures of contracts,'' meaning that rules can be very strict, short of violating someone's civil rights. James Singerling, executive director of the Club Managers Association of America, advised people to shop around until they find the club that meets their financial and recreational needs. Singerling said applicants have a wider range of clubs to choose from than they did several decades ago, meaning interrogations to join clubs ``just don't exist anymore.'' The CMAA CMAA Club Managers Association of America CMAA Construction Management Association of America CMAA Crane Manufacturers Association of America CMAA Country Music Association of Australia CMAA Customs Mutual Assistance Agreement supervises more than 3,000 clubs internationally, Singerling said. - Peter Hartlaub CAPTION(S): Photo, Box PHOTO The serene tableau tab·leau n. pl. tab·leaux or tab·leaus 1. A vivid or graphic description: The movie was a tableau of a soldier's life. 2. of a golfer teeing off at the Porter Valley Country Club masks the rancorous ran·cor n. Bitter, long-lasting resentment; deep-seated ill will. See Synonyms at enmity. [Middle English, from Old French, from Late Latin, rancid smell, from Latin legal wranglings affecting members. David Sprague/Daily News BOX: Fine print important, joiners told (see text) |
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