Neighbors’ Group Files New Lawsuit Over Lawn Trash : Courts: They say Huntington Harbour resident won’t pay $114,000 judgment they won in earlier suit over piles of rubbish.

Neighbors who were awarded more than $114,000 in a court judgment stemming from a dispute over a Huntington Beach woman’s allegedly trash-infested property sued her again this week, contending that she is trying to duck payment.

In the latest chapter of the long-running feud in the upscale Huntington Harbour neighborhood, the plaintiffs contend that Elena Zagustin has tried to avoid paying the November, 1994, judgment by transferring her property to a living trust.

Zagustin’s attorney, Dale Peroutka of Huntington Beach, said Wednesday that Zagustin made the transfer before the judgment became final and did nothing illegal.

When the transfer was made is irrelevant, said lawyers for the neighbors. The point, they said, is that Zagustin was trying to avoid paying if the case didn’t go her way.

The group of about two dozen neighbors, led by sign business owner David A. Flynn, has long been frustrated by what they describe as Zagustin’s refusal to clean up piles of rubbish in her yard. Flynn said he tried to ignore the junk at first, but drew the line when he woke up one day to see chunks of concrete on the lawn--portions of a nearby supermarket that had recently been remodeled.

The neighbors took Zagustin to small claims court in August, hoping the action would either force her to clean up her property or move. The judge toured the immaculately landscaped neighborhood, where houses fetch $400,000 to $3 million, and awarded the plaintiffs $90,575.

Zagustin appealed the June, 1994, decision to Orange County Superior Court in November, but lost. That judge increased the award to more than $114,500 in a judgment that became final Dec. 2, attorneys for the neighbors say.

The neighbors’ new suit alleges that Zagustin transferred her property, including six lots in Huntington Beach, Santa Ana, Garden Grove and Irvine, to the Zagustin Living Trust on Dec. 5, three days after the Superior Court judgment became final.

But the timing of the final judgment is not the issue, said Paul Katrinak, one of the neighbors’ attorneys.

“She knew about the small claims judgment in August,” he said. “All these machinations afterward were to avoid payment,” he said.

Zagustin is “purportedly the trustee” of the Zagustin Living Trust, according to the suit. The action seeks to annul the trust and attach the properties so the neighbors can be paid. It also seeks a court order to block the trust from selling the properties until the case can be resolved. The neighbors are seeking damages as well.

Nelson Cohen, another plaintiffs’ attorney, said his clients really don’t care about the money.

“All they want is for this woman to move out or to clean up the property,” he said.

But Peroutka said the neighbors “have banded together and conspired” against his client.

“I don’t think she could make (her property) clean enough to satisfy any of the neighbors. They simply want her out of the neighborhood, period.”