Bill to Limit Airport Noise Suits Goes to Governor

For the third time in three years, legislators Friday sent Gov. George Deukmejian a bill to protect California airports from repeated “harassment” lawsuits over jet noise.

A bipartisan 49-21 majority of Assembly members gave final approval to the measure by Assemblyman Richard Robinson (D-Garden Grove), which would keep neighboring residents from suing airports more than once unless operations or noise levels “significantly change.”

“Under no circumstances, does it bar a claim,” Assembly Speaker Willie Brown (D-San Francisco) said. “But it would bar you from . . . being able to go in and harass the airport . . . every time a PSA plane lands or a United takes off.”

Similar bills to limit lawsuits against airports were vetoed by Deukmejian in 1983 and 1984, and a spokeswoman in governor’s office has predicted he will “look unfavorably” on this measure as well.

Robinson said he waited until the last scheduled night of the legislative session before seeking a final vote on the bill to give Deukmejian or his representatives time in the interim to suggest changes to make it acceptable to the administration.

When Deukmejian vetoed Robinson’s first airport noise bill in 1983, he said he was “sympathetic” to problems that publicly owned airports face but felt the solution to those problems should not “drastically limit the public’s access to the courts.”

Legislators who spoke in favor of Robinson’s bill included urgings that Deukmejian rethink the issue. Both Brown and Assembly Republican leader Pat Nolan of Glendale, who are usually at odds on controversial bills, spoke in favor of Robinson’s bill.

The bill would overturn a 1985 ruling by the state Supreme Court that said airport operations represent “the quintessential continuing nuisance.”

The bill would declare that, beginning in December, 1987, jet noise would be considered a “permanent nuisance”--meaning an airport neighbor could only sue a second or third time if there was a substantial change in operations, flight patterns or noise levels.

The bill was suggested by the Orange County Board of Supervisors, which is seeking relief from hundreds of pending claims filed against John Wayne Airport. Similarly, airports in Burbank, San Francisco and San Diego have been bombarded with hundreds of suits.

Nearly 700 households near San Diego’s Lindbergh Field have filed claims against the San Diego Unified Port District seeking $300,000 apiece. The residents say airport noise has driven down property values and interfered with their personal lives.

Assemblyman Gil Ferguson (R-Newport Beach), an opponent, said Robinson’s bill is unfair because it does not take into account the impact airport operations have on property values.

“What Richard is trying to do for two years . . . is to keep us out of the courts,” Ferguson said. “You can’t do this because our purpose is to protect the people.”