COSTA MESA : Battle Over Concert Noise Back in Court

The legal battle over concert noise at the Pacific Amphitheatre will go back to trial today. Last-minute efforts on Tuesday to settle the six-year fight collapsed during another session of bitter talks.

“I really thought we were going to reach a settlement. I’m so disappointed,” said Costa Mesa resident Laurie Lusk, a plaintiff in the suit against the 18,500-seat amphitheater.

Orange County Superior Court Judge Richard J. Beacom ordered both sides back to trial after settlement talks in his chambers broke down. Norman Snow, a plaintiff and member of Concerned Citizens of Costa Mesa, said he believes a tentative settlement was reached on the noise level issue but that both sides were hung up on the issue of attorneys’ fees.

Under a gag order issued by the judge, attorneys in the case are prohibited from discussing the matter. Concerned Citizens sued the amphitheater six years ago, complaining that noise levels were intolerable. Lusk and others contend that their lives have been disrupted by the amphitheater’s refusal to lower the volumes during the concerts.

Despite the rancorous tone of the settlement talks, Neil Papiano, an attorney for Ned West Inc., the amphitheater’s builder and owner, agreed outside the courtroom that both sides had been very close to reaching a settlement Tuesday.