Two Dozen Lawsuits Filed Against Stein in Past Decade

Los Angeles city attorney candidate Ted Stein has been sued two dozen times in the last decade, mainly by tenants in disputes over deposits, and by contractors in quarrels over bills.

Ten of the lawsuits resulted in judgments against Stein, a San Fernando Valley lawyer and real estate developer, or against companies he controlled. Most of the judgments were won in Small Claims Court by tenants who said they had not received their full security deposit refunds and involved sums of a few hundred dollars. The largest was for $20,000, paid to a construction company that had done excavation work on a Stein project.

Seven of the lawsuits resulted in settlements; one went to arbitration; three were dropped by plaintiffs and three were consolidated.

The lawsuits were brought to light by the campaign of Stein’s opponent, City Atty. James K. Hahn. The incumbent’s campaign workers gave copies of court documents to reporters in an attempt to portray Stein as someone who gets into lots of financial scraps.

“Stein’s record is not as an attorney but as a real estate developer, and his record as a real estate developer is checkered at best,” said Hahn campaign manager Matt Middlebrook.

Stein responded through his campaign manager, Harvey Englander, that he was glad that Hahn brought up the lawsuits because they are “the exact reason why Ted Stein should be elected city attorney and why Jim Hahn is incompetent.”

Englander said Stein triumphed in most of the lawsuits, including most of those that resulted in judgments against him. With two exceptions, Englander said, those who won judgments walked away only with what Stein acknowledged he owed them.

“When someone sues Ted Stein, [Stein] fights for what’s right,” Englander said. “He will only pay for what’s been contracted for and what’s owed. The difference is that when someone sues [the city of Los Angeles represented by] Jim Hahn, he says, ‘Take the money.’ ”

It was unclear Monday whether two dozen lawsuits since 1988 represents an unusual level of activity for someone in Stein’s business.

One real estate expert said the number of lawsuits was enough to raise an eyebrow; another said it was not. Both observed that the nature of the lawsuits was key. For example, none of the lawsuits, as far as could be determined Monday, involved allegations of fraud. With the exception of a slip-and-fall lawsuit and a dispute with a partner, all seemed to represent disagreements over how much Stein owed someone.

Peter Robinson, a lawyer who specializes in negotiating commercial real estate transactions and heads the Los Angeles County Bar Assn.’s real property section, said: “On its face, 24 lawsuits is a lot of lawsuits for anybody, no matter what business you are in.

“Yet whether they represent something that is negative about Mr. Stein would depend on a review of the cases themselves. . . . Mere bulk doesn’t tell very much.”

A lawyer and property manager, who asked not to be quoted by name, said lawsuits are commonplace in his business. He also noted that Stein, an attorney, may go to court more often than some people because he feels at home there.

Hahn’s campaign, meanwhile, sought to cast the lawsuits as evidence that Stein is inflexible in dealing with people.

“The fact of the matter is that these people were so mad at him they couldn’t come to an agreement like two grown adults,” said the Hahn campaign’s Middlebrook.