ORANGE : Former Official Wins Latest Round in Court Battle With City

Former Planning Commissioner Donald D. Greek has won the latest round of a long-running legal battle in which the city sought to penalize him for alleged conflicts of interest.

The 4th District Court of Appeal ruled Friday that a lower court’s 1993 decision awarding $27,000 in damages to the city was invalid. The city could not show that Greek used his position to win contracts for his firm, Don Greek & Associates Consultants Inc., the court ruled.

The city has spent more than $200,000 in legal fees since 1990 in an effort to win about $100,000 in civil charges against Greek, said City Atty. Robert O. Franks.

Greek, an engineer, served as planning commissioner from 1983 until he resigned under pressure in 1990. At that time, he was accused of using his position as commissioner to win city contracts for his firm.

The city had sued him, claiming his firm won more than $100,000 worth of contracts because of decisions he made while a planning commissioner. In January, 1993, Superior Court Judge Ronald L. Bauer agreed with the city on four incidents that appeared to violate the state’s conflict-of-interest code.

The connection between those four cases and the conflict-of-interest law is “untenable” the appeal court said, and ruled that Greek can recover his legal costs.

“Of course, we’re very disappointed in the decision,” Franks said. He will be reviewing the appellate court’s ruling with outside counsel and then recommend to the City Council whether the city should appeal to the state Supreme Court, he added.

For Greek, the decision is a bittersweet victory. “Our biggest loss has been in the business and in losing four years of our lives,” he said. “It hurt us tremendously. Our volume of business is one-quarter of what it was four years ago.”

Greek said the entire suit was political retaliation from those who did not want him to run for higher office in 1990. “It was strictly because I decided to run for City Council,” he said, noting that anonymous charges started coming out after he announced he was going to run.