Countywide : Tollway Officials Get $26,040 in Legal Fees

County tollway officials have been awarded $26,040 in attorney fees for being frivolously included as a defendant in an environmental lawsuit.

The sanctions recently were ordered by Superior Court Judge James L. Smith after the environmental group Save Our San Juan lost its bid to invalidate an amendment to the county’s development agreement with the Mission Viejo Co.

The amendment allowed the Mission Viejo Co. to end all obligations that tied final development of the Aliso Viejo planned community to construction of the San Joaquin Hills Transportation Corridor in exchange for a lump sum payment of $34 million. The money, instead of coming from the company, came from a special district that levies property taxes on residents for road improvements, fire stations, libraries and other facilities.

Tollway officials are attempting to use the sanction money to offset legal fees awarded to several environmental groups in other lawsuits against the corridor. But Save Our San Juan President Robert King said the proposal will probably be rejected.

King said his group has appealed Judge Smith’s rulings and expects to prevail.

At the conclusion of Smith’s hearing on the case, he commented that in his opinion two residents who claimed to be members of Save Our San Juan for purposes of filing the group’s lawsuit had falsified their testimony, according to a transcript of the court proceedings.

Ironically, the judge said, the two didn’t need to be members of Save Our San Juan in order to participate in the lawsuit.