COSTA MESA : Airport Wins Round in Fuel-Tank Suit

A Superior Court judge Tuesday agreed with county and John Wayne Airport attorneys that owners of the Koll-Irvine Center Business Park do not have sufficient legal grounds to sue for the removal of fuel tanks at the airport.

But Judge Ronald L. Bauer gave attorneys for the business park 15 days to file an amended complaint with more specific California case law and statutes to make their case.

The attorneys for the business park are trying to prove that the tanks are a nuisance. Business owners fear there could be an explosion or fire if an airplane hits a tank or if a natural disturbance such as an earthquake jars the fuel.

Bauer has given the business park attorneys additional time to provide information about previous cases that define what a public or private nuisance is.

The three tanks can hold up to 300,000 gallons each of jet fuel used by airplanes at John Wayne Airport. The tank farm is next to the business park.

Property owners’ fears about the potential danger to their lives and businesses interfere with their enjoyment of their property, they contend. That constitutes a nuisance, attorney Ronald Kohut argued.

“What we really have here is a fire hazard, which is a nuisance, and the possibility of an explosion, which is a nuisance,” Kohut said.

But Bauer said the court has in the past determined that a nuisance can only involve actual damage to property, not expected damage.

Kohut also argued that the property owners have suffered a loss in property values and increased insurance rates because of the presence of the tanks.

“I don’t really think that this case is all that complicated,” Kohut said. “It is clear in our community that you are not unreasonably allowed to do something on your property that interferes with your neighbors.”

But attorneys for the county argued that if the airport is operating within federal, state and county regulations, it cannot be enjoined in a lawsuit claiming public nuisance.

“The fuel farm is indispensable to the operation of the airport,” said attorney Robert Austin, representing the county. “The passengers are not going to be asked to get out and push.”