Award to Residents Group Greater Than Reported : Law: A clerk misinterprets judge’s ruling in small-claims court. Neighbor ordered to pay $90,575, not $50,175.

The Municipal Court judge who ruled in favor of a group of Huntington Harbour residents against their neighbor explained Wednesday that the amount of his judgment was much higher than what a clerk had indicated.

The residents were awarded $90,575, not $50,175 as the court clerk reported Tuesday to several news organizations, including The Times.

Judge Corey S. Cramin had consolidated the claims that couples from the upscale enclave had filed against Elena Zagustin for purposes of the court hearing only, but he awarded each spouse a separate judgment of $5,000. The maximum judgment in small-claims court is $5,000; a joint claim would have limited awards to $5,000 for each couple.

A supervising clerk at Municipal Court in Westminster said the judge’s comments on the case files made it seem that he awarded joint judgments to couples.

“He consolidated the claims for hearing purposes only, not for the judgment,” clerk Carol Kuzio said. “I was trying to explain that ruling (Tuesday), and that’s where the misinterpretation came about.”

The residents used a tactic that originated with an Oakland group--called Safe Streets Now!--to take Zagustin, an engineering professor, to small-claims court in an effort to force her to clean up her house or move.

Over the past eight years, Zagustin’s home has been cited for code violations, and criminal and civil complaints have been filed against her by the city of Huntington Beach.

Two dozen of her neighbors filled Cramin’s courtroom Monday, seeking $5,000 each.

The group’s leader, who had been informed of the lower judgment Tuesday, said Wednesday that the $90,575 judgment would make little difference.

“The neighbors all think that whether its $50,000 or $90,000, that’s still not enough to get Elena to move, whether that’s movement to clean up or movement to move,” David Flynn said. “Everything’s the same. It’s still not enough to meet our end goal. The extra amount might speed it up a little bit, but not that much.”

The neighbors nevertheless see Cramin’s rulings as a victory, he said.

“We’re just happy that the judge found us to be correct,” he said. “We didn’t think we’d make it with one jump.”

Zagustin, who owns several Orange County properties, has said that her house is clean and that she has no intention of moving.

Publicity about the neighborhood’s court hearing prompted a host of calls Wednesday, Flynn said. But he warned that the Safe-Streets-Now! tactic--used predominantly to force evictions of drug-selling tenants or crack down on slumlords--should not be used by those engaged in petty disputes.

“I’m just hoping that people won’t get into this thing and start suing their neighbors because their lawn is two inches too high,” he said.