Firefighters’ Lawyer Plans Claim Against County : Government: Former arson suspects in Calabasas-Malibu blaze suffer from stigma, he says. Lawsuit may follow.

An attorney for two firefighters named as arson suspects in the devastating Calabasas-Malibu fire last fall said Wednesday that he will bring legal action against Los Angeles County for damage to their reputations.

Larry Feldman, who represented the 13-year-old boy who won a multimillion-dollar out-of-court settlement in a molestation claim against pop-music superstar Michael Jackson, said he expects to file a claim against the county within the next two weeks, a step required before a lawsuit. A suit can be filed only if the county fails to respond to the claim.

Steven Shelp, a Los Angeles County Fire Department office worker, and Nicholas Durepo, a volunteer firefighter in Manhattan Beach, were identified by sheriff’s officials as suspected arsonists in one of the worst fires in Los Angeles history.

Neither man was charged with a crime, and the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office recently announced that county officials had insufficient evidence to prosecute and were no longer investigating them. The announcement did not, however, exonerate the men, who have denied they set the fire.

A sheriff’s spokesman said the department has received no formal notice of the action and had no comment.

Feldman, who said in a phone interview late Wednesday that he was retained through a family friend to represent the firefighters last week, promised to investigate “the abuse of their civil rights and take the appropriate action.”

Feldman said he “fully expected” to file a claim against the county within the next two weeks. The county would have 45 days to respond. A response from the county “is possible, not probable, given my 25 years of experience,” Feldman said.

A lawsuit that could name Los Angeles County Sheriff Sherman Block, in addition to the county, could be filed after that period, he said.

Feldman, who gained national prominence in his representation of a 13-year-old boy who claimed he was molested at Jackson’s Neverland Ranch in Santa Barbara County, blasted Block for his account of what took place on Nov. 2, the night the fire began.

Block did not mention Shelp and Durepo by name as suspects late last year, but said he believed that they started the fire in order to put it out and become heroes, which would increase their chances of gaining full-time firefighting jobs.

“We are looking into Sheriff Block’s actions,” Feldman said. “By his statements, he has ruined two men’s lives.

“They still both want to be firefighters, but the stigma is just ruining their lives,” he said. “Once you’re painted with a brush of starting a fire in our community, it is very difficult to overcome.”

Shelp currently has an administrative job for the Los Angeles County Fire Department, but he has never received a field assignment, Feldman said.

Durepo has resigned both his positions as a volunteer firefighter in Manhattan Beach and a reserve firefighter with another department.

“It’s just been a nightmare for them and they are two heroes who’ve had to go through this because of these unsubstantiated allegations,” Feldman said.

“What they’re feeling is that it’s irresponsible for a sheriff to go (to the media) and accuse them of this horrendous act when they had not fully investigated the incident.”