Santa Ana City Lawyer Fined in Adult Theater Case

A Superior Court commissioner levied a $1,000 fine Wednesday against attorney James Clancy, who represents the City of Santa Ana in its fight to shut down the Mitchell Brothers adult theater.

Commissioner Jane D. Myers imposed the fine in reaction to two instances in which Clancy appeared in court requesting temporary restraining orders with no supporting material.

It was the first time in the 11-year-old legal battle that the court has imposed fines. Theater attorney Stuart Buckley called Myers’ action a “largely symbolic thing” and said he had asked that Clancy be fined for each of 19 lawsuits filed weekly by the city between February and September.

Clancy said he will appeal the fine, and noted that he must pay it himself. “This is a personal thing with me,” he said, stressing that his client, the city, is not involved.

In all, Clancy has initiated 45 lawsuits challenging the theater’s right to operate, most of them, filed during 1986, asking for restraining orders against films shown that week. The theater was awarded attorneys’ fees in two of the earlier lawsuits, and hearings to determine the exact amounts are still pending.

Despite the fine, Clancy won a victory later Wednesday in another courtroom when Superior Court Judge Harmon G. Scoville said he plans to order the Mitchells to produce about 90 films at a preliminary hearing as evidence. The theater had been ordered in May merely to allow Clancy to copy the films. However, Clancy never made any copies and subsequently told Scoville that the cost of copying just one 90-minute film would be about $35,000. “I understand why there was no copy made,” Scoville said, citing the “exorbitant cost.”