Lindsay’s Stepson Tries Legal Maneuver : Courts: He wants to be named conservator in attempt to retrieve real estate from councilman’s former girlfriend. Effort has no bearing on status with City Council.

The stepson of ailing Los Angeles City Councilman Gilbert Lindsay will go to court next week in an attempt to reclaim the elderly councilman’s real estate from his former girlfriend, an attorney for the family said Friday.

Herbert Howard will ask a judge to appoint him conservator for his stepfather, who was incapacitated by a stroke Sept. 2, said Johnnie L. Cochran Jr., the lawyer who wrote Lindsay’s will and represents Howard.

If a judge grants the request, Cochran said, he will file a lawsuit alleging that Juanda Chauncie, 39, may have used undue influence or may have engaged in fraud to gain control of the 90-year-old councilman’s property.

Neither Chauncie nor her lawyer returned phone calls Friday.

Over the last two years, Chauncie has obtained a financial interest in much of Lindsay’s property and is attempting to evict an elderly couple from a house Lindsay has rented to them for 20 years.

Lindsay has been hospitalized since he suffered the stroke and remains partially paralyzed and unable to speak.

Cochran said the sole purpose of the conservatorship is to give Howard the legal standing to proceed against Chauncie. He said he plans to visit Lindsay within the next few days to determine whether there is any way to communicate with him, such as by a nod of the head or a squeeze of the hand.

Some who have visited Lindsay over the last three months have said they believe he recognizes them, but others said they are unsure.

The appointment of a conservator would have no bearing on the controversy about Lindsay’s future on the City Council, officials said. Some have speculated that a conservator might be able to resign Lindsay from the council. The councilman apparently is incapable of resigning for himself, even if he wished to.

City Atty. James K. Hahn said in an opinion this week that a conservator would not have the authority to take such an action.

City Council President John Ferraro said Friday that he believes a conservatorship would be irrelevant to the controversy about whether Lindsay should remain on the council.

“But I certainly am in favor of a conservatorship,” Ferraro said. “I’m in favor of them trying to recover the property taken away from Mr. Lindsay.”

Until 18 months ago, Lindsay owned three houses on East 52nd Place and at least two commercial lots in Los Angeles. But now, records show, the only piece of property he owns by himself is his modest home in South-Central Los Angeles.

During that time, Chauncie was made a co-owner of the commercial lots and one of the houses on 52nd Place was sold in a transaction reportedly negotiated by Chauncie. A second house--Lindsay’s residence--was mortgaged recently to raise money for capital-gains taxes on the transaction, according to Lindsay aide Sal Altamirano.

The third house was given to Chauncie outright early this year. In October, about six weeks after Lindsay was hospitalized, Chauncie went to court to evict the tenants, Mamie and Walter Henry, an elderly handicapped couple who had rented it from Lindsay.

The Henrys are fighting the eviction and their lawyer, Alan Finkel, said Friday that legal action by Lindsay’s stepson should bolster the Henrys’ case.

Meanwhile, the council continues to struggle with the politically delicate issue of whether Lindsay should be removed from the seat he has held for 27 years.

Lindsay’s absence has left his district unrepresented at a critical time when the council is beginning to develop redistricting plans that could reshape his 9th District, which includes downtown and much of South-Central Los Angeles.

If no one is actively representing the district, council sources say, it would be far easier for Lindsay’s colleagues to carve up the wealthy downtown area and redistribute chunks to themselves.

But council members also are feeling pressure from community leaders in the 9th District who are increasingly unhappy with their lack of representation.

A three-member council committee voted Friday to move ahead with plans for a Charter amendment that would allow Lindsay to be replaced. But there was little agreement among council members on what the amendment should say.

An informal poll Friday showed that nearly all have rejected Hahn’s advice that the council has the power to appoint a temporary replacement for Lindsay without removing him from office.

Councilwoman Joy Picus called the proposal “preposterous” and said Hahn “invented it, created it out of nothing.”

“There should not be a temporary replacement,” Councilman Zev Yaroslavsky said. “We elect one person. If that person is not competent, there ought to be ways to remove him.”

Only Ferraro endorsed Hahn’s idea. “The argument that we can’t appoint someone . . . is a bunch of bull,” Ferraro said. “I was appointed and Gil Lindsay was appointed.” Both were appointed to fill unexpired terms of council members who left office.

The council’s Rules and Elections Committee is evaluating two proposals for Charter amendments, one of which must be approved by the full council by Dec. 19 if the issue is to be put before the voters in April.

One proposal, offered by Ferraro, would insert language into the city Charter that expressly authorizes temporary replacements for incapacitated council members, who would be allowed to return to office if they recover.

The other, suggested by Councilwoman Joan Milke Flores, would permit the removal of council members who are incapacitated for more than 60 days.

The committee on Friday asked the city attorney’s office to analyze the proposals and report back Monday with suggestions on how they should work.

Councilman Hal Bernson said he is not sure that either measure is necessary because the Charter already permits voter recalls. “The people who elected (Lindsay) can always remove him from office,” Bernson said, “but I haven’t heard any clamoring from the people in his district.”