Judge Rejects Property Negligence Appeal

A Superior Court judge Thursday rejected the appeal of a Huntington Harbour woman whose neighbors had won a record $90,575 judgment, claiming the trash on her property created a vermin infestation.

Judge C. Robert Jameson upheld the small-claims court decision and increased the judgment against Elena Zagustin, an engineering professor on leave from Cal State Long Beach, to $110,000 plus more than $6,000 in attorneys’ fees.

This was the first such case in Orange County to be upheld on appeal and opens the door to other county residents who want to join forces to win large judgments against negligent property owners, attorneys and neighbors agreed.

“It provides an avenue for homeowners in terms of abating these types of nuisance conditions,” said attorney Nelson Cohen, who represented the 22 neighbors who had sued Zagustin. “It empowers citizens to take action and recognize that a change can be affected.”

Zagustin, who could not be reached for comment, had denied many of her neighbors’ allegations, contending she had cleaned up her property. Her attorney, Dale Peroutka, labeled the suit “harassment.”

“We thought it was unfair to blame her for all the ills of the neighborhood,” Peroutka said. “It is clear her neighbors don’t like her.”

In banding together to sue a negligent property owner, residents used a novel tactic that was pioneered in Oakland by a group called Safe Streets Now!. In Oakland, the strategy was used primarily to pressure landlords into evicting drug-selling tenants and to crackdown on slum lords. It has only recently reached Orange County.

Several neighbors testified that Zagustin, who is in her late 50s, had caused them emotional harm by hoarding rubbish, making noises in the night, abusing her cats and contributing to an odor problem and rat and possum infestation in the neighborhood.

Parents said they were afraid to let their children play in their back yards because of the threat of disease from the vermin. Others complained that the value of their homes, which averaged $450,000, was hurt by Zagustin.

Neighbors also presented 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 lawsuit filed by the city that was settled in July.

The small claims court judgment against her was the largest in the county’s history.

Santa Ana community activist Jim Walker, who has been trained in the Safe Streets Now! methods and helped the neighbors with this case, said the ruling signals residents that they now have a powerful legal tool to make changes in their neighborhoods.