Dispute Over Trees’ Demise Grows Into Knotty Legal Battles : Oxnard: Death of eucalyptuses along Rose Avenue spawns web of lawsuits among the city, the Maulhardt family and St. John’s Regional Medical Center.

Along Rose Avenue in north Oxnard, a stately row of eucalyptus trees--many lifeless with bare limbs--stands at the heart of a dispute among the city, one of its founding families and a $110-million hospital nearby.

Ravaged by beetles, the trees are slated to be removed in the next few months, a leveling city officials say is necessary to keep weakened trunks from crashing down on passing cars.

No one disputes that the 400 or so trees must come down. What is at issue, and what has spawned a complex lawsuit involving half a dozen companies, is what made the trees start to wither.

The Maulhardt family, which settled on the Oxnard Plain in the 1860s, believes that construction of the new St. John’s Regional Medical Center and the widening of Rose Avenue robbed the eucalyptuses of water, leaving the trees vulnerable to bark-munching beetles.

In court papers, the family contends that the trees began to deteriorate sometime after September, 1992, when Rose Avenue was widened from a two- to a four-lane road and new storm drains and sewer lines were installed.

The road work, and the earlier pumping of ground water from the hospital’s construction site, caused “stress, shock and damage” to the trees, the suit says.

“This had long been a very, very healthy row of trees,” said Thomas E. Neuhaus, an attorney for the Maulhardt family.

“Now everybody’s busy pointing the finger at everybody else.”

St. John’s and the four subcontractors named in the lawsuit deny playing a part in the trees’ demise.

“The hospital is at least half a mile away from the trees,” said Richard Dear, an attorney for Mercy Healthcare Ventura County, which owns St. John’s. “I have no information that ties . . . the hospital site with any problems connected to the trees.”

Complicating the matter is a web of countersuits.

Oxnard has sued St. John’s, claiming the city has no liability for the damaged trees under a development agreement signed by hospital officials. The city has also sued the hospital and the construction companies for the loss of those trees owned by Oxnard.

And St. John’s has sued four of its construction subcontractors, saying if there was negligence, it resulted from those companies performing substandard work.

Because of the complexity of the suit and countersuits, and the mounting cost of legal fees, attorneys say there will most likely be a settlement before the July 31 trial date.

“We’d be in court forever trying to sort out the parties and all the problems associated with it,” said Dear, the attorney for St. John’s.

All parties are expected to meet with a judge next month to discuss a possible settlement.

The Maulhardts are seeking damages that would cover the cost of removing the trees--which could be as much as $250,000--attorney’s fees and a drop in their property’s value because of the loss.

Dean Maulhardt, elected to the Oxnard City Council in November, is a plaintiff in his family’s lawsuit and is part-owner of the property where the trees stand.

To avoid a conflict of interest, he has stayed out of closed-door discussions by the City Council about the lawsuit.

Today, sections of gray, dead trees are mixed among the green ones. In all, there are about 400 trees running along North Rose Avenue between Soccorral Way and Camino del Sol.

As with other eucalyptus rows crisscrossing Ventura County’s farm fields, the Maulhardts’ trees were planted as a wind screen to protect fruit crops and prevent soil erosion.

The exact year of the planting is unknown, but family members place it in the late 1920s or early 1930s.

Lynn Maulhardt, a co-owner of the 109-acre lemon and avocado ranch bordered by the trees, said his late uncle, Robert Maulhardt, arranged the seedlings in two parallel rows, alternating the trunks to form a thicker windbreak.

“That protects the fruit from banging around on the trees, which decreases the scarring,” he said.

And while Maulhardt described the trees as “aesthetically pleasing,” he said the family views them primarily as an agricultural tool.

“There’s nothing magical about these trees,” he said, “just like there’s nothing magical about the tree you plant in your own back yard.”