Owner Sues Man Who Saved Irvine Castle From Demolition : Courts: Would-be Good Samaritan is accused of ruining house after vowing to bring it up to city code.

The owner of a unique three-story castle in conformity-minded Irvine has filed a suit against the owner of a topless nightclub who had saved her house from a city demolition crew.

Five months after hailing him as her personal savior, Fern Ganish accuses Mark Bailey of fraud, conspiracy and “negligent infliction of emotional distress,” saying in a lawsuit filed Monday that instead of rescuing her 8,500-square-foot, rock-faced mansion, he ruined it.

Ganish also sued contractors and lawyers enlisted by the would-be Good Samaritan in his quest to save the house, saying the Bailey group mishandled $65,000 of her money.

Shortly after learning about the lawsuit Tuesday, a flabbergasted Bailey called Ganish and her husband irrational ingrates.

“I thought they would just go away--I just didn’t want to be ‘Ganished’ anymore,” said Bailey, who insists that he spent $65,000 of his own money on the Ganish house.

The suit filed Monday in Orange County Superior Court is the latest twist in a bizarre 10-year legal battle involving the mansion where Ganish has lived since 1978 with her husband and their three children. City officials and neighbors have long complained that the house, undergoing remodeling for 12 years, is an eyesore.

Ganish alleges Bailey essentially misled her when he volunteered to bring her half-finished house in line with building codes.

In March, weary of pressuring the Ganishes to complete the remodeling project, city officials said they had no choice but to knock down the house.

But just hours before the wrecking ball was set to swing, Bailey rushed in and promised to pay what was needed to finish the house.

Although he had never met the Ganishes, Bailey stood on their front lawn and told reporters the family was being persecuted by the kinds of bureaucrats with whom he regularly skirmishes as owner of a Lake Forest topless bar called Captain Creams.

Tuesday, Bailey sounded a different tune, siding squarely with city officials and wishing that he had never heard of the Ganishes.

“Here’s two people that have just conducted a pity party for the last 13 years,” he said. “I’ve got an ulcer that says ‘Ganish’ on it.”

The Ganishes declined to speak to reporters Tuesday. Their lawyer said they were suffering from intense emotional distress, and Bailey was the culprit.

“His whole action in this was not only to their detriment, but cost them a lot of money,” said Eric Traut, a Yorba Linda lawyer.

The major point of contention between Bailey and the Ganishes seems to be $65,000 that Fern Ganish placed in an escrow account, part of the deal that Bailey helped broker with the city.

Traut says the Ganishes believed their money was being held in reserve for construction costs that might arise in the future.

The Ganishes, he said, didn’t understand that Bailey and his construction crew were regularly drawing on the $65,000 for labor and materials.