Razed Fence Raises Ruckus Between Neighbors : Judge to Settle Dispute Over Boundary of Beverly Hills Property Once Owned by Sheik

A piece of Beverly Hills property that drew widespread attention 10 years ago when owned by a Saudi Arabian sheik has become the arena for a fight between two neighbors over a fence.

Veronica Monique, owner of the vacant lot at the corner of Sunset Boulevard and Alpine Drive where the home of Sheik Mohammed Al-Fassi burned almost nine years ago, is being sued by her neighbors to the north, Sandor and Susana Garai, for tearing down a wrought-iron fence, a 12-foot hedge and a 20-foot cypress trees along two sides of the Garais’ back yard.

Monique, owner of a truck manufacturing company who bought the property in June, said she was entitled to clear the fence because surveys showed that it stood within her property lines.

Hearing Held

At a hearing in Santa Monica Superior Court last Friday, the Garais’ attorney, Bernard I. Segal, argued for a preliminary injunction barring Monique from further destroying or building on the disputed property. Judge David M. Rothman has not yet handed down a decision.

Rothman denied a motion by Monique’s attorneys, Donald Burris and Arnold Stone, for a preliminary injunction barring the Garais from trespassing on the disputed property.

According to surveys commissioned by both parties, the fence was not built on the property line but a few feet south and west of the actual boundary. Therefore, Burris told the court, the strip of land on which the fence stood was Monique’s to use as she saw fit.

But Segal said that according to legal precedent, when a parcel is delineated by fixed monuments that neighboring property owners rely on as boundaries, they become, in effect, the actual boundaries.

He also argued that his clients had been using the disputed property continuously for more than five years, watering and maintaining shrubs and trees they had planted. It was probable, he said, that the Garais had paid property taxes based on an assessment that included the additional property.

Plans for House

Burris said Monique, who plans to build a 2-story home with a ground floor of about 10,000 square feet, needed to clear the space to build the house. Nothing will be built on the disputed property, he said, but the extra space is needed to meet city setback restrictions.

Monique, 43, said she tried many times to negotiate with the Garais, but they “totally refused.”

“It is very, very hard for me, after getting such an expensive lot, not to be able to use my property,” she said.

Susana Garai, 62, said, “She wants to build a house of (10,000) square feet, and that’s my problem? . . . For that I have to remove my fence?”

Garai said she and her husband, who is 73, visited a cemetery on Nov. 11 and returned to find a bulldozer tearing down the fence and hedges that formerly bordered their property.

The Garais say the bulldozer damaged their whirlpool’s filter system, cracked the concrete deck around the swimming pool and destroyed several shrubs they had planted.

Stone, co-counsel for Monique, said he was present during the bulldozing and saw no damage done. “I was there the whole time, and I did not see any damage to any concrete deck or anything like that. . . . If there was incidental damage, our client has agreed to appropriate reimbursement for that damage.”

When Sheik Al-Fassi bought the 38-room house that formerly stood on Monique’s property, he raised neighbors’ eyebrows by painting the white plaster sculptures on the lawn in realistic flesh tones and hair colors, making their nudity too graphic for some people’s tastes. He painted the house mint green and installed a copper roof with a bright blue-and-gold tile chimney.

The new look caught the attention of the media, and soon tour buses were stopping there for sightseers to take snapshots.

The fire that destroyed the home on New Year’s Day, 1980, was blamed on arson.