Nuisance Case Nets $45,000 for Neighbors

Calling it a classic nuisance case, a judge ordered landlords to pay $45,000 in damages to nine neighboring homeowners for letting tenants run amok for four years.

The owners failed to control noise, trash and illicit activities at their rental property in the 8400 block of Lennox Avenue, the judge ruled.

The unusual case represents a trend that has been encouraged in Los Angeles by politicians who have urged disgruntled neighbors to take on nuisances themselves, rather than wait for police or city inspectors.

The owners, Nancy Ponticelli of Seal Beach and her brother, Steve Piznizk, who lives on the property, must compensate neighbors for pain and suffering, reduced property values, emotional distress and disturbing the quality of life.

The judgment followed a two-hour trial before Judge Pro Tem Paul Libis, who threw out six of the 15 suits when the plaintiffs failed to show up.

Outside the courtroom, Ponticelli and Piznizk, who walked with the help of a cane, declined any comment on the case.

Claiming victory was Doris Rojas, a housewife who urged her neighbors to take up the fight against the property owners.

An ecstatic Rojas predicted the landlords will finally get the message to “clean up their act.”

Rojas, who has lived in the neighborhood for 17 years, testified Monday that until recently her Panorama City neighborhood was a quiet place with many longtime residents. But in 1993, the calm was shattered when her neighbor opened up his home to renters who, she said, trashed the property, made noise at all hours of the night and committed crimes ranging from public sex acts to drug dealing to animal cruelty and child abuse, according to testimony Monday.

Piznizk testified that he knew of kids who were beaten with switches and acknowledged that he had been beaten up by his tenants. He testified that he was trying to give the property a face-lift by removing trash and had planned to paint it and install new carpeting.

But other residents of the neighborhood, including Jose Perez, 32, testified that the constant activity had harmed their way of life and dragged down property values. Perez said he twice attempted to sell his house, which had been assessed in the early ‘90s for $160,000, but that his best offer on the property was $135,000.

Others testified that they saw open drug dealing. Children, several testified, had been offered liquor by tenants at Piznizk’s home.

Those stories was corroborated Monday by documents and witnesses from the Los Angeles Police Department, the Los Angeles city Department of Building and Safety, Animal Regulation and Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services.

Several of the agencies attempted to move against Piznizk and Ponticelli.

“I think it’s a great idea for the community,” said LAPD Officer Chris Booker. Booker testified that police had been called to the house earlier this year.

But it was not until Rojas heard about similar tactics by a group of neighbors in Berkeley that progress was made. In 1990, Molly Wetzel successfully shut down a house in her middle-class Berkeley neighborhood, which was beset by crime and drug dealing. Like Rojas she enlisted neighbors in filing a series of small-claims actions.

With her victory Monday Rojas said: “The point isn’t the money. We did it because we want enough power to force some kind of a solution. This has been going on too long.”