Supervisors to Offer Plan to Settle Suit : Redistricting: The board proposes settlement that would create a predominantly Latino district by 1992.

On the eve of a historic redistricting trial, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday voted behind closed doors to explore settlement of a federal lawsuit designed to help a Latino win election to the five-member board.

Under the proposed settlement, the board would redraw its district boundaries to create a new, predominantly Latino district by 1992, according to those involved in the discussions.

Board Chairman Ed Edelman confirmed that the board authorized its attorneys to “explore the possibility of a compromise” when the trial begins today) on the lawsuit.

The Justice Department and two civil rights groups last year filed the suit accusing the supervisors of drawing their districts in such a way as to weaken the political clout of the county’s 2 million Latinos. The suit contends that the board split Latino neighborhoods among three districts in violation of the federal Voting Rights Act.

Under the proposed settlement, the board, using 1986 population estimates, would consolidate heavily Latino portions of Edelman and Supervisor Pete Schabarum’s districts to create a predominantly Latino district east and southeast of downtown Los Angeles.

In return, Edelman and Schabarum, who are up for reelection next June, would have their terms extended by a federal judge until 1992 so that they could become better known to voters in their newly defined districts. One of them is likely to be running in the new Latino district.

Until now, the board’s three-man conservative majority has resisted efforts to settle the case. In fact, during Tuesday’s public session, Supervisor Mike Antonovich lashed out at a proposal resurrected by Supervisor Kenneth Hahn to expand the board to seven members.

During the closed-door meeting, Supervisor Deane Dana cast the deciding vote in the 3-1 vote to explore a settlement, according to county officials who spoke on the condition that they not be named.

Edelman and Hahn also voted to explore a settlement. Antonovich dissented. Schabarum was absent.

Dana refused comment.

Antonovich said in an interview after the meeting that he objected to the possibility of the county paying legal fees to the American Civil Liberties Union and the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund for “their harassment tactics.”

County Counsel DeWitt Clinton said the board was asked by U.S. District Court Judge David Kenyon, who is hearing the redistricting case, “to consider whether they are interested in engaging in discussions . . . which could lead to a possible compromise. The board determined that it was interested in engaging in such discussion.”

Clinton said the board directed him to inform the judge today of the county’s willingness to enter settlement talks.

It was not known whether such negotiations would delay the trial.

An attorney for MALDEF declined to comment. Attorneys for the Justice Department could not be reached.

The lawsuit against the county is similar to one filed by the Justice Department against the city of Los Angeles in 1985. In order to settle that lawsuit, the City Council redrew its district lines, which enabled Gloria Molina to win election to the 15-member council as only the third Latino member in history.