Fear in Back Yard : Couple Claim Golf Balls Drove Them to File Suit
A couple who claim that near-daily bombarding of golf balls drove them from the Westlake Village home they leased have filed a $1.6-million lawsuit against the North Ranch Country Club, a realty company and the home’s owners.
Elliott Hokin, 59, an automobile dealership executive, and his wife, Jeanne, 57, say that the fear of being hit by ricocheting golf balls kept them from using their backyard hot tub.
Additionally, the suit alleges, the golf balls made it necessary to keep their two golden retrievers indoors, resulting in soiled floors.
The lawsuit, filed Thursday in Ventura County Superior Court, seeks punitive damages of $500,000 from the country club and $250,000 each from the home’s owners, Hong and Flora Kim. The lawsuit also seeks punitive damages of $500,000 from Brown Realty Inc. of Thousand Oaks and $50,000 each from two realtors who handled the lease-purchase transaction.
The suit alleges that the Hongs, the realty company and its salespeople failed to disclose the golf-ball hazard.
The suit also seeks reimbursement for damages, attorney fees, repairs and renovations made to the property, and the return of $7,000 the Hokins paid toward purchase of the property, said their attorney, Glenn Churchman of Camarillo.
The Hokins moved into the home on Ryder Cup Drive in June, 1986, unaware that the house is near a fairway.
40 Hits a Month
The home was pelted by more than 40 golf balls a month, breaking roof tiles and a glass table and nearly injuring several visitors, the lawsuit claims.
No one has been hurt, but one workman, shaken after a golf ball came within inches of his head, refused to come on the property without a hard hat, Jeanne Hokin said in an interview from Upland, where the couple moved three weeks ago. The couple’s nine grandchildren had to play inside when they visited, she said.
Hokin said the golf balls also interfered with her ability to concentrate on the doctoral dissertation she was writing for a Ph.D in art history at the University of California, Santa Barbara.
“It was nerve-wracking. I would be studying, reading very technical things and you would hear this crash and have to get up and interrupt your work to go look and see what was broken,” she said.
When they complained about the problem, club manager Tom Carroll suggested they purchase bullet-proof glass for the home’s windows or move out, the suit alleges.
