Local News in Brief : Hahn Aide Loses Lawsuit

A Los Angeles Superior Court jury on Monday ordered county Supervisor Kenneth Hahn’s top deputy to pay $180,000 in damages to a former business associate who accused him of breach of contract and fraud.

The jury found that Mas Fukai, who is also a member of the Gardena City Council, broke a verbal agreement to operate a Hollywood restaurant and to pay debts that mounted while it was purportedly under his control between 1979 and 1981.

Jurors, however, concluded that Fukai had not intentionally misled restaurant owner Hirohisa Yamada and therefore was not guilty of malice or fraud, a finding that could have prompted punitive damages.

At the same time, in response to a cross-complaint filed by Fukai, the jury directed Yamada to pay Fukai $4,000 still owed on a $20,000 loan. The loan was part of a deal under which Fukai’s son Rick was installed as manager of Yamada’s Copper Penny franchise restaurant on La Brea Avenue, which has since closed.

The younger Fukai was also accused in Yamada’s 1981 lawsuit of breach of contract, fraud and embezzlement, but he was dismissed from the case after his bankruptcy in 1986.

Fukai’s attorney argued that Fukai was involved with the restaurant only as a money lender and interpreter and that Yamada misled him about the financial condition of the business.