Westside : SURF SUIT

A surfer has filed suit against two other surfers convicted of beating him at a Malibu surfing championship last year.

Richard P. Ernsdorf filed a lawsuit in Santa Monica Superior Court on Tuesday seeking unspecified damages. Also listed as defendants were Los Angeles County and organizers of the event.

Ernsdorf’s lawsuit comes a year after he was attacked in the waves at Surfrider Beach on Sept. 27, 1994.

Ernsdorf, 45, was not a competitor in the Oxbow World Longboard Championships but was in the water at the time of the event. Joseph David Tudor, father of a surfing competitor, and surfing contestant Lance Henry Hookano allegedly paddled out and began to hit Ernsdorf after he failed to leave the surf contest area.

Hookano, 35, and Tudor, 44, were found guilty of aggravated assault and are awaiting sentencing.

In his suit, Ernsdorf alleges that the county is at fault because lifeguards did not prevent the attack and that event organizers did not adequately monitor security personnel.