MALIBOU LAKE : Plaintiff Ordered to Pay Homeowners’ Legal Bills

A Malibou Lake property owner who unsuccessfully tried to slap a legal muzzle on an outspoken homeowners organization has been ordered to pay the group’s legal bills. The decision was hailed Thursday as protecting citizen input in disputes.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge John Zebrowski on Wednesday ordered Madeleine Drolet to reimburse the Malibou Lakeside Homeowners Assn. for the $10,500 it spent to fight a lawsuit she filed to silence it.

Drolet, who wants to build a house on property she owns in the mountain hamlet south of Agoura Hills, tried to quiet opposition in March by filing a complaint commonly known as a SLAPP--an acronym for “strategic lawsuit against public participation.”

Developers nationwide have frequently filed SLAPPs in recent years when homeowner groups criticized their projects, claiming such protests hurt their livelihood. Developers rarely prevailed, but nonetheless wore down opponents through costly battles.

The Malibou Lake outcome came under a state law, which took effect Jan. 1, designed to curtail SLAPPs. Zebrowski’s two-page ruling characterized Drolet’s $4-million lawsuit as having “no rational basis” and said the legal action “was for the purpose of harassment in the sense that it was intended to intimidate the members of the homeowners association.”