Long Beach : Airport Suits to Stand
A Superior Court judge has denied a city request for dismissal of lawsuits by about 1,600 Long Beach Airport-area homeowners.
Judge Robert I. Weil ordered the city to respond to about $240 million in damage claims by the owners of about 800 dwellings.
Deputy City Atty. Roger Freeman said the move was the first in a series of court proceedings that could drag on for several years.
Freeman argued before Weil that the suits should be dismissed because a 3-year-old federal court injunction has taken control of the airport away from the city.
“But he did say that the homeowners are going to have real problems proving any damages in light of the injunctions,” Freeman said.
U. S. District Court Judge Laughlin E. Waters, who in 1983 increased the number of airline flights from 15 to 18, recently ordered an increase to 26. The city has appealed that decision and will argue before Waters on Monday that no new flights be allowed until its appeal has been decided.
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