COSTA MESA : Amburgey Appeals Ruling Barring Suit

Former Councilman Orville Amburgey has appealed a decision forbidding him to sue the city and three officials for initiating a conflict-of-interest investigation involving him.

Amburgey’s attorney, Lawrence K. Harvey, said he feels the lower court erred when it ruled earlier this year that Amburgey has no legal grounds for his case and threw it out of court.

In June, Superior Court Judge Randell L. Wilkinson invalidated the lawsuit against the city, City Atty. Thomas Kathe, City Manager Allan L. Roeder and Mayor Mary Hornbuckle, ruling that each was immune when acting as an official representative of the city in alerting authorities to a possible conflict-of-interest violation by Amburgey.

Harvey argues that the ruling was incorrect.

“We are maintaining that (city officials) were not working in the scope of their employment,” Harvey said. “They deliberately went out and did this.”

The case stems from a 1987 vote in which then-Councilman Amburgey voted in favor of a city contract with Copley-Colony Cablevision of Costa Mesa Inc., even though his electrical company had done work for the cable firm.

In a review of city contracts, Kathe came upon the Copley-Colony vote, alerted Roeder and Hornbuckle and turned the investigation over to the district attorney’s office shortly before the November, 1990, election. Amburgey was defeated in that election.

Early last year, Amburgey was charged with conflict-of-interest violations stemming from the vote, but the charge was dismissed that June after a tape recording of the 1987 City Council meeting cast doubt over the intent of his vote.

Amburgey contends that he was set up to lose the election and said he filed the lawsuit to clear his name. Although no damage amount is specified in the suit, Amburgey maintains that he will seek $3.8 million for emotional, financial and physical suffering as a result of the criminal charge.

The suit also charged Kathe with a conflict of interest for heading up the investigation while representing Amburgey as a council member.

The city has maintained throughout that officials were merely carrying out their official duties in calling for the investigation of Amburgey.

In a related action, the City Council recently agreed to consolidate the attorneys handling the case for the city. Attorney Edwin J. Richards will now represent the city, as well as Hornbuckle, Kathe and Roeder.

The appeal could be heard within the next three or four months, according to officials.