Judge Visits Alleged Eyesore House; Owner Not Present

The judge stopped by, but the professor wasn’t in. So the inspection of a disputed Huntington Harbour home Wednesday morning didn’t go quite as planned.

Neighbors have accused Elena Zagustin, a Cal State Long Beach engineering professor, of causing them emotional distress by refusing to clean up her property.

After hearing some of the 35 claims pending against Zagustin, Westminster Municipal Judge Mary Fingal Erickson decided to see for herself.

But when the judge arrived at 9 a.m., the professor was gone. Neighbors said Zagustin drove off at 8:15 a.m., saying she had an appointment.

“She had her opportunity to put on a defense,” said Brian Simon, a Los Angeles lawyer representing the neighbors in their attempts to collect earlier judgments against Zagustin that exceed $114,000. “She promised the court she would be here.”

Plenty of other people were on hand, though, including more than two dozen reporters and photographers. They and their vehicles filled the cul-de-sac of $450,000 homes in anticipation of the judge’s inspection.

By the time Erickson arrived in an Orange County marshal’s car, there was no place to park. The driver had to ease through a throng gathered in David Flynn’s driveway to let the judge out.

Erickson then met with Flynn, who has spearheaded the neighborhood’s legal challenge to Zagustin. Flynn led Erickson, accompanied by two marshals, across the street to Zagustin’s house, a single-story building on a yard nearly devoid of vegetation. Flynn told the judge that Zagustin spent Tuesday moving debris from the yard into the house, tacking curtains over previously bare windows and adding a hasp and lock to the front door, already secured by a bicycle lock.

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Other neighbors helped with the inspection by placing a stepladder against an adjoining fence, creating a bizarre image as Erickson, in a bright-red blazer, rose above the throng of cameras to peer over the top. The yard was mostly empty except for tires that Zagustin has told the court she used as tomato planters until the city shut off her water.

Erickson then toured the neighborhood, stopping at several homes for different views of Zagustin’s yard as the media followed. Neighbors, meanwhile, took snapshots of each other against the backdrop of TV cameras filming the judge.

The event everyone had anticipated--the judge getting a look inside what neighbors describe as a debris- and vermin-filled house--didn’t happen. Huntington Beach Code Enforcement Officer Arnie Samarditch said he tried to get a search warrant Wednesday morning to allow the judge to enter the house, but couldn’t get the paperwork done in time.

He said he will seek a warrant by Nov. 24, when the judge is scheduled to hear the remaining claims against Zagustin.

After half an hour, Erickson left in the marshal’s car, which backed slowly through the throng.

Zagustin could not be reached for comment Wednesday. In court earlier this week, she denied that her house is unkempt and accused neighbors of conspiring to force her out because, among other reasons, she is a Russian native.

The neighbors’ frustration with Zagustin has spilled over to Huntington Beach officials. Flynn said that, despite a 366-page inspection file on the Zagustin property, the city has failed to force Zagustin to comply with building and health codes.

Mayor Ralph H. Bauer said city ordinances limit the city’s involvement to exterior code violations. He said he is considering urging the City Council to ask City Atty. Gail Hutton, who is an elected official, to prepare stronger ordinances.

“We want to cure the problem,” he said. “We want to have ordinances in place to enable us to deal with that. We’re going to work on it pretty hard.”

The neighborhood’s plan is patterned after a strategy that Oakland residents used in 1989 to force a recalcitrant landlord to evict drug dealers. The Huntington Harbour residents filed a series of $5,000 small claims against Zagustin. The goal was to obtain judgments that would total more than she can pay, thus forcing a marshal’s sale of the property and effectively evicting Zagustin from her own home.

The first 24 claims were filed in 1994, and most were granted by Judge Corey S. Cramin after a tour of the property. The new round of 35 claims are allowed because the conditions leading to the allegations of emotional distress still exist.

“It’s a sad commentary on society that these homeowners have to get together like a posse and use lawsuits to fix something the city of Huntington Beach should have done,” said Tom McCurnin, another lawyer representing the neighbors.