Dean: You Really Know How to Hurt a Guy

So a landlord sues his tenant when the house catches fire after a rowdy party. Snore.

But wait. This is a Southern California lawsuit, a saga of surfer boy-singer turned substantial landlord, a case littered with famous names.

The owner is Dean Torrence, half of the ‘60s surf music duo Jan & Dean, who is suing over the $500,000 damage done last June to his three-story Hollywood house, once the dwelling of actor Humphrey Bogart.

And the tenant is Chris Shinn, a 24-year-old aspiring musician in a Los Angeles band named Celia Green.

The suit, filed Feb. 27, accuses Shinn of maintaining unsafe conditions in the home by burning candles on the floor and carpet throughout the house, overloading electrical outlets, and planting tiki torches near brush and trees.

Torrence, who lives in Huntington Beach, also is asking for the remaining $17,160 in rent that he claims Shinn didn’t pay when he moved out six months before the lease ended.

“I’d like nothing better than to put it back as close as I can to what it was before the fire,” he said. “I feel responsible for it. I still love it whether I hold onto it or not.”

Shinn, the son of Charlotte Hornets’ owner George Shinn, rented the four-bedroom home from Torrence in January 1995, paying $2,800 a month.

“I’ve never loved a place that much in my life. I spent years decorating it,” he said Wednesday. “It was a wonderful home, a great place.”

According to the fire report, Shinn, his brother and a few friends returned to the home at 2 a.m. on June 17, 1997, after attending a movie premiere.

The group stayed up until 6 a.m., “partying and jamming” before falling asleep, the Los Angeles Fire Department report says. The blaze began at about 2 p.m., starting from the den/living room, and sweeping up through the bedrooms.

The brothers woke up in time to warn their friends and escape. The group suffered smoke inhalation, and Shinn had first- and second-degree burns.

Shinn later told investigators he remembered a candle burning in the general area where the fire started but that he thought he had blown out all the candles. He also stated he had a lot of electrical music equipment plugged in.

The cause of the blaze remains undetermined.

“It was pretty obvious from reading the report that there was negligence on behalf of the tenant,” said Torrence. “My insurance company did not fully cover my loss so it’s made it necessary that I go after my tenant.”

Shinn’s manager, Don McCowin, said they had not received a copy of the lawsuit Wednesday. Shinn, who says he is still friendly with Torrence, denies any responsibility for the blaze.

“The police told me it was electrical,” he said.”

Torrence had bought the 2,100-square-foot home, built during the 1920s with its distinctive curved shingle roof, in 1968 and lived there until about five years ago. He rented it to actor Eric Roberts, Julia Roberts’ brother, before renting it to Shinn.

He is in the middle of renovating now, but says the damage is so extensive that he doesn’t have the money to rebuild the way he wants.

“My long-range dream was to save it and pass it on to my children,” Torrence said. “But these days that’s not realistic. They probably wouldn’t find it charming, just a piece of old junk.”

And, this being Hollywood, it might after all have a happy ending. “My tenant still does love the house,” Torrence said. “He may end up being the one that buys it.”