Critic has case dropped

CITY HALL — The California State Supreme Court has declined to hear an appeal from longtime City Hall critic Herbert Molano, who together with a Los Angeles-based housing corporation sued the city over its 2006 Downtown Specific Plan.

The lawsuit, which among other claims alleged the city failed to adequately address the impacts of greater density on downtown open space, was dismissed in Los Angeles Superior Court in 2007.

City officials assert the corporation, Conquest Student Housing, used Molano in an attempt to bog down the Verdugo Gardens project — a 24-story, 287-unit condominium tower, of which Urban Partners, a Conquest competitor, holds a stake.

Conquest is now embroiled in a federal lawsuit over its alleged legal strategy of using lawsuits to delay competing projects.

Molano appealed the decision on his own dime. When he lost, he sought to have it heard in state Supreme Court, but the jurists refused, ending a long-running legal battle that City Atty. Scott Howard said has cost the city $677,000, mostly on outside counsel.

While the courts have ruled that the city is entitled to recover only a small fraction of the total cost incurred in the legal fight, Howard pledged that “whatever the figure is, we’re going to get it.”

The disclosed legal tab for fighting Molano comes at a time when the City Council has been struggling to cobble together a fix to a projected $9.7-million budget gap for next fiscal year.

The plan includes a citywide hiring freeze and other service changes, but could also mean unpopular cuts to community policing programs that cost just tens of thousands of dollars.

Councilman Ara Najarian, in announcing the Supreme Court decision Tuesday, seized on the disparity, saying the money “could have been used to keep libraries open or police officers on the street.”

He added: “This is good news for the city, the drain of Mr. Molano and the attorney fees is finally over.”

Molano, who was not at the City Council meeting Tuesday, acknowledged that the chances of his case reaching the Supreme Court were slim, but argued that the city could have saved itself the trouble had they agreed to preserve open space near downtown’s core.

“The only thing I had asked for was that two acres of the Central Park be maintained as open space,” he said.

He also blamed his legal team for throwing the book at the Downtown Specific Plan instead of focusing on the open-space issue, diluting his case’s potency in court.

It is not the first time Molano has been dealt a major setback in the courtroom.

In October 2007, Molano dropped his $1-million civil rights lawsuit against Councilman Dave Weaver, who he claimed had improperly blocked him from rebutting comments made during a City Council meeting.

At the time, Molano said he had based his decision to withdraw after comparing his own finances to the “bottomless bank” of the city.

 JASON WELLS is the city editor. He may be reached at (818) 637-3220 or by e-mail at jason.wells@latimes.com.