$1.2 Million in Damages Set in Antonovich Suit : Courts: Jury also will consider punitive damages involving county supervisor’s alleged effort to influence a judge on behalf of a campaign donor. Appeals are planned.

A Superior Court jury has awarded just over $1.2 million to a businessman who contends that Los Angeles County Supervisor Mike Antonovich conspired to influence a judge on behalf of a campaign donor.

The compensatory damages awarded by a Norwalk jury in the civil suit were seen as a stinging rebuke to Antonovich and the other defendants, who had argued that the supervisor did nothing improper in telephoning Judge Eric Younger almost five years ago on behalf of Krikor Suri and his business partners.

Antonovich could not be reached for comment after the jury came in late Thursday with the damage award. But a spokesman for the supervisor said Antonovich was “certainly disappointed. . . . Mike did nothing wrong.”

But Bruce Altschuld, attorney for businessman Avedis Kasparian, said, “This was a just verdict . . . the message the jurors sent is that politicians shouldn’t be calling judges for their campaign contributors under any circumstances. This type of conduct is intolerable.”

Kasparian has said that he lost money because the judge was influenced by Antonovich.

But attorneys for the defendants said they will appeal the verdict and ask the judge to reduce the damages.

“This jury went in upset and they went in to get a politician,” said Frank V. Zerunyan, Suri’s attorney. “My guys didn’t even ask (Antonovich) to make the phone call.”

Antonovich, who represents the sprawling 5th District, has acknowledged calling Younger, whom he described on the witness stand as an old friend. But he said he did so only as a character witness for Suri, whose jewelry business was being sued by Kasparian, his former partner.

According to campaign reports, Suri and his companies contributed about $19,000 to Antonovich’s campaigns from 1985 until 1989. They loaned Antonovich $10,000 about one month before the supervisor called the judge, and they also made a $3,000 contribution to his campaign four days before Antonovich spoke to Younger.

“The damages are highly excessive,” said Principal Deputy County Counsel J. Patrick Joyce, who represented the county and Antonovich in the suit. “What this jury found was that the phone call interfered with the business relationship of the partners, that’s all.”

If the $1.205 million in compensatory damages is not overturned on appeal, it will be county taxpayers--not Antonovich--who will foot the bill along with Suri and the other defendants, Joyce said. The county was named in the suit because Antonovich was said to be acting within his official duties.

By legal agreement with all parties, the county will help pay those damages in exchange for an exemption from any punitive damages. Jurors voted Thursday to award punitive damages and are set to reconvene in Norwalk today to decide the amount.

Criminal charges were never filed against Antonovich, although Kasparian complained to the district attorney’s office about the supervisor’s conduct eight months after the telephone call.

But prosecutors responded by letter that “the facts presented do not constitute a crime.”

Antonovich has long been accused of influence-peddling by political opponents. Six challengers who ran against him in June, 1992, failed to convince voters that Antonovich’s board decisions were influenced by campaign contributions. Antonovich won his fourth term with 55% of the vote.

The judgment against Antonovich will not significantly weaken his base of support, political observers say. During his tenure on the board, Antonovich has become known as a law-and-order conservative--a staunch supporter of increasing the budgets of county law enforcement agencies, imposing tougher penalties on criminals and cracking down on illegal immigration.

“He’s known as a conservative, and conservatives will stand by him,” said John Peschong, a spokesman for the California Republican Party.

But the case could prove politically embarrassing. Jim Mihalka, a conservative Republican who ran against Antonovich last year, said he plans to call for the supervisor’s resignation at a board meeting this month.