VENTURA : Port District Will File for Bankruptcy

Ventura Port District officials voted Thursday to file for bankruptcy today, following a state Supreme Court decision not to hear a case appealed by the district in hopes that it could avoid payment of a $15.6-million judgment.

The judgment was awarded to Ocean Services, a bankrupt development company that successfully sued the port district for not acting in good faith during negotiations about development of Ventura Harbor Village.

In interviews last month, port district officials said they did not know how the district would pay the judgment. Attorneys for the district said they had hoped to work out a payment schedule.

Ocean Services had signed an agreement with the port district in 1979 to build an aquarium, restaurant and retail shops at Ventura Harbor.

According to court documents, the port district did not reveal that it had an agreement with another developer prohibiting construction of retail shops at the harbor. Ocean Services went ahead with the Harbor Village development, and by the time the company went bankrupt in 1987, it had incurred $13 million in net operating losses, court documents said.

The lawsuit was brought by a company called Ventura Group Ventures, largely composed of former Ocean Services shareholders.