Irvine Co. Must Pay $5 Million More in Tenant Case : Lawsuit: Total is now $45 million. Jury had ruled that the landowner thwarted plans by Lion Country Safari’s operator to develop acreage it leased.

A jury added $5 million Monday to the damages that the Irvine Co. must pay to now-defunct Lion Country Safari for thwarting plans by the animal park’s operator to develop 300 acres it leases from Orange County’s largest private landowner.

That brings to $45 million the total that the Superior Court jury says Irvine Co. must pay. Irvine Co. officials vowed to appeal the decision.

After a six-week Superior Court trial, the all-female jury on Friday awarded United Leisure Corp., the parent company of Lion Country, at least $40 million in damages, saying that the Irvine Co. had acted maliciously and fraudulently to undermine the park’s ability to do business. The additional $5 million awarded Monday represents punitive damages.

Brian Lysaght, a lawyer for Lion Country, had sought $25 million to $50 million in punitive damages, arguing that a smaller amount would have little effect on the multimillion-dollar company.

“The Irvine Co. will laugh it off. It has to be large enough so there is no laughter,” Lysaght said. “We want to make an example for the community at large so this will never happen again.”

Gary Hunt, executive vice president of legal affairs for the Irvine Co., said Monday: “I can assure you, nobody is laughing at the Irvine Co. over a $45-million damage award.”

“While the money is important,” Hunt said, “equally important is the integrity of the Irvine Co. in dealings with our more than 4,000 tenants.”

The jury was told Monday that the net worth of the Irvine Co. is now more than $500 million, a figure accepted by lawyers on both sides.

Hunt vowed that the landowner will appeal the decision as early as possible, arguing that the verdict was inconsistent and not supported by the facts presented during the trial.

“If on appeal this decision is upheld,” Hunt said, “it will turn contract and landlord and tenant law in California on its head.”

In a 1987 lawsuit filed on behalf of Lion Country, which shut down in 1984 after attendance lagged, United Leisure alleged that Irvine Co. officials tried to block new recreational projects. The suit charged that the Irvine Co. “generally acted in such a way as to make it impossible to derive a profit from its lease.”

Lion Country, a drive-through park that opened in 1969, allowed visitors to see lions, giraffes and zebras up close. The parent company subleased about 100 acres for the construction of Irvine Meadows Amphitheater and the Wild Rivers water park, from which it still receives revenue. Irvine Co. unsuccessfully sued to stop the Wild Rivers project, saying that Lion Country had not obtained the proper amount of insurance needed for such a facility.

Lysaght presented jurors with copies of internal Irvine Co. memos and notes from a “secret” meeting in 1985 on the water park during which Irvine Co. officials developed a strategy to block the project, he said.

Attorneys for the Irvine Co. argued that the company always wanted the water park and that their only concern was about insurance coverage.

After the trial, a juror who asked not to be identified said she voted for the $45 million in damages against the Irvine Co. because Lion Country Safari got “a dirty deal.”

But jury forewoman Deborah Turner of Irvine, one of three jurors who voted against punitive damages, said actions by Irvine Co. officials were part of the company’s right as a landlord.

“I think the Irvine Co. was lawful and not at fault,” said Turner, who added that she thought Lion Country should pay the Irvine Co. back rent and other obligations on a lease that is still in force. Turner said there were differing opinions among jurors on how the lease contract between the theme park and the Irvine Co. should be interpreted.