Law Firm Fined Over 'Frivolous' Suit

AP News
August 16, 2005

LOS ANGELES-A law firm and two of its attorneys must pay $267,000 for helping the developer of a controversial condominium project file a frivolous lawsuit against its opponents, a judge ruled.

U.S. District Judge Manuel Real on Monday sanctioned Foley & Lardner and two attorneys in its San Diego office, S. Wayne Rosenbaum and Suzanne Washington. Developer Irving Okovita had brought a racketeering lawsuit against Sandy Steers, executive director of the Friends of Fawnskin, and three Forest Service employees who had fought his proposed Marina Point luxury condominium development on Big Bear Lake.

The Oakland-based First Amendment Project argued that the suit was aimed at intimidating and harassing Steers, who said she was only trying to force Okovita to follow the law. Real threw out the suit in March. Foley & Lardner, which has 18 offices around the country, including six in California, said in a statement that it expects to appeal Real's ruling.

Okovita wanted to build 132 luxury condominiums, a 175-slip marina and tennis courts on the north shore of Big Bear Lake near the tiny town of Fawnskin. His opponents claim the development would threaten the bald eagle, which is protected under the Endangered Species Act. Further hearings in the opponents' lawsuit are scheduled for next week.

It's unusual for a federal judge to slap a law firm with such a big penalty, said New York University law professor Stephen Gillers, an expert on legal ethics. "For a court to award that kind of money, the court has to find an utter lack of basis" for the lawyers' position, Gillers said.