Conservancy to Buy Land at Heart of Henley Dispute

The former owners of two lots in Sherman Oaks have dropped a lawsuit accusing rock musician Don Henley and city and state officials of conspiring to block development near Henley’s Bel-Air home, after the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy agreed to buy the plaintiff’s property.

The lawsuit filed in April by Richard Jean and Adam Siegler asserted that conservancy officials fraudulently raised environmental concerns about developing the lots to curry the favor of Henley, a frequent contributor to environmental causes and former member of the Eagles rock band.

The Sieglers dropped the lawsuit in December after accepting the conservancy’s offer of $500,000 for about six acres on the 14100 block of Mulholland Drive, just west of the Henley property.

“There was absolutely no wrongdoing on the conservancy’s part,” said Liz Cheadle, attorney for the conservancy. “This property has been on our acquisition list for a long time. It’s a very significant habitat linkage for many kinds of wildlife.”

Adam Siegler, an attorney who represented the family, declined comment Tuesday.

The settlement agreement signed by the plaintiffs and defendants “operates as a complete (retraction) of all allegations . . . that the defendants . . . engaged in a conspiracy to prevent the Sieglers from developing the land or to pressure the Sieglers into selling the land at a price below market value.”

The defendants, including conservancy Executive Director Joseph T. Edmiston and Los Angeles City Councilman Zev Yaroslavsky, contended that the Sieglers filed the lawsuit in an attempt to extract more money from the state agency for the purchase of the land.

The $500,000 was based on the conservancy’s appraisal of the parcels. The Sieglers at one point had sought about $1 million for the land, Cheadle said.