Assembly OKs Limits on Airport-Noise Suits

Despite spirited opposition led by Assemblyman Gil Ferguson (R-Newport Beach), an Orange County-sponsored measure to limit noise-nuisance suits against airports was approved Wednesday by the Assembly and sent to the Senate.

Ferguson, a staunch conservative, was allied with some of the Assembly’s most liberal members in arguing that the bill by Assemblyman Richard Robinson (D-Garden Grove) would infringe upon individual rights to seek damages in courts.

But Robinson argued that the measure, which essentially keeps airport-area property owners from suing more than once, allows those residents to sue “in any court they want to use.” It simply keeps them, Robinson said, from suing repeatedly--a tactic that has been used by some homeowner groups to put political pressure on governmental bodies that own and operate airports.

Compared to Freeway Issue

Robinson compared the issue to recurring controversies over freeways. Homeowners who object to a freeway or its route should be allowed to seek damages for the roadway’s environmental impacts in court, Robinson said. “But they can’t go in every time a truck goes by,” Robinson said.

Orange County, which owns and operates John Wayne Airport, is a defendant in 250 noise-nuisance lawsuits.

Barbara Lichman, executive director of the Airport Working Group of Orange County, a homeowner group that opposes the legislation, said few suits are filed by repeat plaintiffs. Lichman, who testified against Robinson’s bill when it was approved by the Assembly Judiciary Committee by a vote of 8 to 0 two weeks ago, predicted that the bill will rekindle hostilities between the county and Newport Beach residents.

The county, the city and homeowner groups agreed to a negotiated noise-reduction plan last year.

The measure, which is similar to two previous bills that have been vetoed by Gov. George Deukmejian, passed the Assembly 49 to 11 Wednesday. Ferguson was the only Orange County legislator who opposed it. But it could face greater difficulties in the Senate, where Sen. Marian Bergeson (R-Newport Beach) is already an outspoken opponent.

‘A Last Resort’

Before the Judiciary Committee vote, Bergeson sent a letter to committee members saying that airport-area residents in Orange County, Inglewood, North Hollywood and the peninsula area of San Francisco had only used lawsuits to pressure governmental bodies “as a last resort.”

She said recent noise-reduction agreements reached in Orange County and San Francisco are a result of those pressures.

“The agreements are the correct manner in which to solve this problem,” Bergeson wrote, “not by the Legislature unilaterally taking away people’s rights in court.” Ferguson said airport operators such as Orange County will be encouraged “to tear up those agreements” if Robinson’s bill passes.

“The problem with the vote,” Ferguson said, “was that people didn’t understand the bill. And, Dick Robinson with his rhetoric made sure they didn’t understand it.”

“The Supreme Court understands the rights of property and the rights of contract,” Ferguson added, predicting that the measure will be challenged in court if it passes and gets the governor’s signature.

State Supreme Court Ruling

Last year, in a case that grew out of a dispute in Burbank, the California Supreme Court ruled that airport noise is a “continuing nuisance”--a definition that upholds the right of property owners to sue repeatedly.

But Robinson’s bill would redefine flight noise as a “permanent nuisance,” which would prevent property owners from suing time and again unless there is a “substantial increase” in the noise.