Couple of ‘Old Coots’ Nick Housing Panel Over 15 Cents

It began earlier this year with a $30 disagreement, a steadfast refusal by city administrators to compromise, and an equally steadfast refusal by the two retired and self-styled muckrakers to pay more than 10 cents per page for copying costs.

At the end, the administrators learned that defense of a principle, no matter how noble it is perceived to be, is always costly. And as happens infrequently, the mice ended up scaring, if not beating, the elephant.

The San Diego Housing Commission, a $36-million agency, wanted Mel Shapiro, 59, and Hans Jovishoff, 72, to pay the going agency rate--25 cents per page--for about 200 pages of agency documents that the two men wanted copied. The copied pages, said the pair, would expose wrongdoings of the commission and its executive director, Ben Montijo, in a complicated real estate deal that landed the agency a lavish new office that includes a workout room and well-stocked bar.

The allegations were never proven, but the two “old coots,” as Montijo called them, sued anyway in May to recover $30 in overcharges they said resulted when the commission charged them 15 cents over the normal rate per copied page. By November, Shapiro’s and Jovishoff’s lawsuit had cost the commission almost $5,000 in legal fees, while the pair’s attorney and friend, Charley Wolfinger, had agreed to take the case and wait to be paid.

On Wednesday, a commission spokesman said the agency had dropped a dime, so to speak, and agreed that Jovishoff and Shapiro, who have been described by Councilman Bill Cleator as “destructive gadflies,” only had to pay 10 cents per page.

“We’ve agreed to settle at the 10 cents price. It’s ridiculous to continue to spend legal fees in order to recoup 15 cents. It’s a waste of money for us and we’re putting an end to this nonsense,” said commission spokesman Ken Guyer.

Shapiro and Jovishoff had already been informed, said Wolfinger, and were pleased with their “significant and splendid victory, thank you.” However, neither man was available for comment.

“They’re over at the Housing Commission even as we speak,” Wolfinger said. “Let me tell you, they’re on the trail of something even bigger. Don’t ask me what it is because I can’t say. But call back in a couple of weeks and you’ll see that this new stuff makes peanuts of this controversy.”

But Wolfinger said that now he expects to be paid for his legal work. The issue of attorneys’ fees is yet to be decided by a Superior Court judge, who may order the commission to pay Wolfinger for his efforts.