Fair will seek legal fees in amphitheater fraud, antitrust suit

Elise Gee

FAIRGROUNDS -- Orange County Fair Board members are interested in

talking to the city about enforcing sound restrictions at the Pacific

Amphitheatre, but they will not forgive legal fees owed by two Mesa del

Mar residents who became involved in a fraud and antitrust lawsuit.

After a closed session meeting Thursday, the board voted 7 to 0 to

direct its attorney to enforce a Superior Court judgment that holds

Laurie Lusk and Jeanne Brown responsible for $46,000 in legal fees. Board

members Don Willet and Randy Smith were absent.

“The board said a long time ago that if this issue ended with a

judgment we would have no choice but to enforce it,” said Fair Board

President Don Saltarelli. “It’s something we felt that we had no

discretion on. This isn’t our money, this is the taxpayers’ money.”

The board’s decision follows a closed session meeting by the Costa

Mesa City Council on Monday in which officials discussed helping the Fair

and the residents resolve their ongoing litigation.

The Fair filed a fraud and antitrust lawsuit against the Nederlander

organization in 1995 because, they said, Nederlander sold them the

$12-million amphitheater knowing sound restrictions in the sales

agreement rendered the venue useless. Lusk and Brown intervened in the

lawsuit in 1996 on the side of Nederlander to try to keep the sound

restrictions in place. The Fair secured a reported $16-million settlement

last year from Nederlander just prior to the verdict.

Lusk and Brown are appealing the case to reinstate a sound restriction

in the sale agreement and to get enforcement rights. A judge decided in

two separate rulings this year that Lusk and Brown were responsible for

more than $50,000 of the $4.4 million in court and legal fees accumulated

in the last four years.

The City Council is considering acting as a mediator between the Fair

and the residents to end the litigation that has haunted the amphitheater

in one form or another since 1980. The council was interested in finding

a resolution in the matter to help Lusk and Brown out of the burden of

legal and court costs, City Manager Allan Roeder has said.

Brown and Lusk said they would also need some assurance that someone

would enforce sound restrictions at the amphitheater if they were to

consider dropping their appeal, Roeder said. One option would be for the

city to take up that responsibility, Roeder said.

Saltarelli said that the Fair would be open to discussing city

enforcement of sound restrictions as outlined in a 1980 agreement.

Lusk and Brown have been given opportunities to settle all along, he

added.

“The Fair prides itself on being a good neighbor and tried numerous

times to reach a settlement with the residents,” Saltarelli said.

“Unfortunately, these continuing appeals are going to cost taxpayers a

lot more money in legal costs in addition to the millions they’ve already

spent.”