ELECTIONS / VENTURA COUNCIL : Candidate Has Faced Suits at Least 15 Times

City Council candidate Craig L. Huntington, who is campaigning on a pro-business platform, has been sued at least 15 times, including one complaint that accused him of failing to account for $180,000 in quarters from laundry rooms he managed, court records show.

A property manager who oversees more than 5,000 pieces of property, Huntington said he is frequently the target of slip-and-fall and other accident victims looking for quick cash.

“It’s the society that we live in,” he said Friday. “Everybody’s looking for something free, and when you become a successful businessman, you become a big target.”

But Huntington, 45, was named in a 1993 lawsuit filed by the Hemlock Victoria Homeowners Assn. that accused him of mismanaging the 530-unit complex and using at least $180,000 worth of laundry receipts over eight years for his own purposes.

He denies any wrongdoing in the case, and said he agreed to a settlement only to avoid a costly legal battle.

Huntington lost an arbitration ruling that awarded the homeowners $229,000 in damages, court papers say. But he rejected the non-binding ruling and settled the case out of court weeks later, Huntington said.

Terms were not disclosed, but Huntington said the settlement was for a small amount.

“We settled for a minuscule amount of money,” he said. “We wanted to go to trial, but we just couldn’t afford it because of the legal expenses.”

In addition to the allegations relating to laundry receipts, the suit accused Huntington of failing to collect dues from delinquent homeowners and neglecting the grounds of the huge condominium complex at Victoria Avenue and Hemlock Street in Oxnard.

Total losses for the association under Huntington’s management were estimated at $300,000 or more in the suit.

Property owners said in the lawsuit that they discovered shortages in the laundry income after Huntington was released from the management agreement in 1992 by comparing electricity used by the machines with the deposits.

“It became apparent that substantial revenues from the laundry facilities had not been accounted for while Huntington collected the revenues,” the suit contends.

Under terms of the agreement, Huntington employees would collect the change from the complex’s laundry machines and deliver the quarter-filled bank deposit bags directly to Huntington, who was responsible for depositing the money.

Other past business associates also have sued Huntington and his companies.

Donald J. Parrish complained in a 1994 lawsuit that Huntington failed to properly manage one of Parrish’s homes, costing $8,000 in lost rent and $7,000 in damages to a home. The case was later settled out of court.

“We got deadbeats,” Huntington said of the case. “They paid for three or four months and then they quit. Anybody who rents property knows how it goes.”

Channel Islands National Bank sued the candidate last year after Huntington and his wife, Deborah, and two other partners allegedly borrowed $47,595 and failed to repay it on time. Four months later, that case also was settled out of court.

“That was a misunderstanding between us and the bank,” Huntington said. “We still do business with Channel Islands National Bank.”

Huntington is one of 12 candidates seeking three seats on the Ventura City Council. He said he planned to spend between $20,000 and $25,000 to win a seat on the seven-member panel.

At a debate sponsored by the Chamber of Commerce’s political action committee earlier this week, Huntington touted his business skill and said the city could benefit from his professional experience.

“These community associations need to be managed just like a city needs to be managed,” he told 100 or so voters at the Doubletree Hotel on Wednesday.

“I’ve been self-employed since I was 22,” he said later in the debate. “It’s been up to me.”

In his campaign literature, Huntington stresses the importance of helping businesses stay in business.