Squabble Unleashed : Suit Seeks Return of Champion Bull Terrier Missing 4 Years

It started as a simple business deal, according to a Northridge podiatrist who claims things turned sour a few months later when several people came down with a nasty case of seller’s remorse.

The result is a lawsuit set to go to trial today in Van Nuys Superior Court. The suit alleges that the sellers realized they had given up a valuable and famous commodity for a paltry $600 and then took it back by force.

The property in question is Shavin-Kingsmere Notty Nada, a champion bull terrier not unlike the party-loving Spuds McKenzie made famous in those beer commercials.

Like Spuds, Nada is a well-heeled animal. One expert in the case believes the dog, which at one time was the No. 1 bull terrier in the country, is worth up to $300,000.

At the center of the dispute, according to court documents, is a clandestine raid involving an off-duty Orange County sheriff’s deputy and an Anaheim man, who admits taking the animal from the doctor’s Northridge back yard in March, 1990.

No one has seen the dog for nearly four years, and the alleged dognapers will only say that Nada, now 5 1/2 years old, was given to an elderly couple known only as “Helen and Jim,” according to court documents.

The lawsuit, filed April 5, 1990, by the doctor, Patricia Walters, calls the incident a dognaping, while those who admit taking the dog call it “a repossession.”

During a trial expected to last five to 10 days, a jury will be asked to decide whether Walters owns the dog, or if Nada is the property of the alleged dognapers.

Walters is asking for Nada’s return, as well as unspecified damages for assault and emotional distress.

Named in the lawsuit are the dog’s breeders and trainers: William and Patricia Edwards of Glendale, and Terry Martin and Linda Lethin-Martin of Anaheim, owners of the firm, Shavin-Kingsmere, which breeds and shows dogs.

Walters contends in the suit that she was assaulted by William Edwards when he entered her back yard to take Nada. But Edwards contends he was rescuing the dog from Walters, who he says was not fit to care for it.

Edwards also contends Walters attacked him with a dog leash during the incident.

Orange County Sheriff’s Sgt. Robert Bollong also is a named in the suit, not for claiming an interest in the dog, but because he grabbed the animal as William Edwards passed it to him over a wall from Walters’ yard. In court documents, Walters alleges the 12-year Sheriff’s Department veteran was engaged in a “criminal conspiracy.”

After taking the animal, the defendants “gave the dog to an elderly couple out of fear the plaintiff would put the dog to sleep should she ever regain possession,” according to court documents.

Given the acrimony that has developed in the case, the chances of a settlement appear to be slim. The file in the case is nearly a foot thick, and Robert Armstrong, the Edwards’ attorney, says he has collected six large cartons of information related to the case. What is certain is that hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees have been paid to attorneys on both sides of the case.

“I have tried brain damage cases that were substantially less complicated,” said Armstrong, who compared the case to a bitter child-custody dispute.

Walters’ attorney, Major Alan Langer, did not return phone calls this week. Nor did attorneys representing the Martins and Bollong.

In the initial stages of the case, both sides posted $15,000 bonds to ensure Nada’s safety. The defendants posted their counter bond--a novel legal issue that was taken up by the state Supreme Court--after the Edwards and the Martins were temporarily thrown into jail for failing to turn over Nada.