Sierra Club’s Lawsuit Dismissed in Attorney’s Absence

A Superior Court judge dismissed a Sierra Club lawsuit against a proposed housing and golf course development in Rancho Palos Verdes when the environmental group’s attorney failed to show up for the first day of trial.

But the environmentalists, who are suing the developers, said Judge Robert H. O’Brien apparently did not understand that their attorney was absent because he was in the hospital. They plan to ask O’Brien to reverse his Monday decision and reinstate the case.

“I was absolutely shocked by the judge’s decision,” said Sierra Club attorney Frank P. Angel, who was undergoing surgery Monday for appendicitis. “I felt like you can’t get sick in this town.”

Angel filed a request to postpone the trial until June 2, a date that opposing attorneys in the case had agreed on. But O’Brien denied the request, apparently because Angel did not specify the nature of his medical emergency.

The lawsuit claims that the coastal development, by Barry Hon and the Zuckerman family, violates state and city environmental laws. The suit seeks to push the development farther inland to provide more public access to the beach. Environmentalists consider the dramatic bluffs the last undeveloped coastline of its kind in Los Angeles County.

Developers say the project--which calls for a public, 18-hole golf course, 83 homes and a 35-acre preserve for the endangered California gnatcatcher--complies with all state and city requirements. They also say it provides more than enough public access to nearby beaches.