Neighbors Win $50,175 in Lawsuit : Courts: Group had hoped a larger judgment would force homeowner to move. She has said she plans to stay put.

Municipal Judge Corey Cramin has awarded $50,175 to a group of Huntington Harbour residents who took their neighbor to small-claims court to force her to clean up her property or move out.

David Flynn, who spearheaded the court actions, said Tuesday that members of his group are not entirely pleased because they fear $50,000 is not a large enough judgment to get Elena Zagustin to leave the upscale waterfront enclave. It is about half the damages sought by the neighbors.

“We just don’t know if doing it once is going to be enough to get an end result,” Flynn said. “It’s probably not enough to get a resolution. I wish we could have sued for the entire value of her property in one shot.”

Zagustin and her attorney did not return phone calls Tuesday. Her attorney said earlier that Zagustin, who owns several Orange County properties, has no intention of moving out and suggested that her neighbors do so instead.

Cramin’s decision in the case was released Tuesday. Neighbors had adopted a novel court tactic called Safe Streets Now!, which was pioneered in Northern California to force evictions of drug-selling tenants and crack down on slumlords.

Neighbors had presented as evidence Zagustin’s Huntington Beach code enforcement file--the fattest in city history, including records of 21 inspections of her house, four criminal complaints and a Superior Court lawsuit filed by the city that was settled last month.

In four hours of court testimony Monday, they told Cramin they didn’t think Zagustin is capable of maintaining her property, and complained she had caused them emotional harm by hoarding rubbish, making noise late at night and creating a health hazard that brought vermin and unbearable odors to the neighborhood.

“If she puts a for sale sign on that house, the day it closes escrow we’ll give her all her money back,” Flynn said. “We don’t want the money.”

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In court Monday, Zagustin told the judge that she had cleaned up her property in accordance with court order issued last month in a case brought by the city of Huntington Beach. She also denied many of the allegations of her neighbors.

In an interview Monday, she also vowed to sue her neighbors for malicious prosecution and intentional infliction of emotional distress.

The two dozen neighbors, three of them minors, each sought $5,000 from Zagustin, the maximum obtainable in small-claims court.

Rather than the $120,000 they had requested, Cramin consolidated claims filed by husbands and wives and reduced the judgments of the minors.

The judge also denied the claims of two young men who had moved several years ago from their parents’ Huntington Harbour home next door to Zagustin. Cramin said the statute of limitations on emotional distress is one year.

Nine couples received $5,000 each; the grown daughter of one couple who have lived next door to Zagustin for 19 years received $2,500; the three small children of another couple, one of whom told Cramin on Monday that Zagustin had chased her down the street, received $500 each, and Flynn’s father received $500.

Cramin also awarded the group $675 in legal costs.

“I am disappointed,” Flynn said. “I don’t think it is enough.”

He vowed to rally more neighbors and take Zagustin back to court in 100 days if the property is not cleaned up.

“We’re using this as a means to an end,” he said.

“Our only recourse is to get enough judgments against her to get her to move or to clean up,” Flynn added.

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The tactic of teaming up in small-claims court in the hopes of winning large judgments against problem property owners was pioneered by an Oakland resident in 1989, and Safe Streets Now! has since helped Bay Area residents win more than $760,000 in judgments.

Long Beach activist Betsy Bredau, who has launched a Safe Streets Now! office in her city, has helped residents there win $56,000 in judgments against property owners in the past year with the same tactic; she helped Flynn and his neighbors with their case.

Flynn said he hoped the judgments, mailed to plaintiffs Tuesday, would inspire residents elsewhere to act.

“We are happy . . . with the fact that the tactic worked,” he said.

“I think Safe Streets Now!’s phone is probably ringing off the damn hook today, because every neighborhood has an Elena,” he said. “It only takes one house to ruin three or four blocks. It’s one bad apple spoils the barrel.”

Santa Ana activist Jim Walker, who has been trained in the Safe Streets Now! tactics, said the judgments set a precedent in Orange County and could be a significant tool in battling slumlords and crack houses.

“This is historic. This was not about money. This was about winning, this was about finding that the system does work, and now neighbors can expect a healthier and safer neighborhood,” Walker said.

“I do believe that this could really make a safer Orange County. We all win for this.”