Judge Backs Lynwood in Suit Over Billboard Fees

The sister of former Lynwood Mayor Paul Richards has lost a court decision in her bid to collect up to $2 million she says the city owes her for negotiating a billboard contract on its behalf.

Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Emilie Elias dismissed Paula Harris’ lawsuit, which had asked the court to force the city to arbitrate her claim.

Although Harris’ contract with the city contained an arbitration clause, Elias ruled that the contract was invalid. Elias made the ruling Aug. 1, but lawyers in the case received it in the mail this week.

Richards voted last year to award a no-bid contract to his sister that called for her to receive a 20% commission on any billboard deal she negotiated. At the time he voted to hire her, Richards had one such deal with Regency Outdoor Advertising already in the works, correspondence shows. That deal, which was finalized under Harris’ auspices, was similar to the one Regency proposed to Richards. Regency was to pay the city up to $5 million for the right to erect a dozen signs on city property along the Century Freeway. The city then would pay Harris up to $1 million as a commission.

That arrangement was imperiled in November when Richards won reelection but lost an ally who had given him a three-vote City Council majority. The new majority, led by Richards’ replacement as mayor, Arturo Reyes, voted to cancel Harris’ contract as well as the Regency deal.

Harris filed a claim against the city, demanding payment of the $1 million she said she was owed for the Regency deal and another $1 million she believed that she would have had an opportunity to make through other deals. Regency also has threatened to sue.

Elias ruled that Harris’ contract was invalid because her brother, while mayor, failed to sign it. The city manager signed it instead. But the judge said the Richards-led City Council had told the city manager only to negotiate a deal with Harris, not to sign one. That, the judge said, would have required a separate action.

City Atty. Michael Montgomery, who was hired by the new council majority, said Wednesday that “it was just poorly done. They got the wrong person to sign it.”

But he said he believes that he would have been able to challenge the contract successfully anyway as a deal that lacked public benefit.

Harris’ attorney, Rickey Ivie, said she will appeal. This is only the “first round,” he said.