Marina Family Awarded Millions

Jurors have awarded $3.5 million to the former operators of a Ventura County marina, eight months after a judge ruled that the county illegally took possession of their boating docks.

Charles Farrell, one of three plaintiffs to sue the county, said he was thrilled by the jury’s decision, reached late Thursday.

Farrell, along with a brother and sister, alleged that the boating docks at Channel Islands Harbor, built by his father in 1963, remained their property even though the family’s 40-year lease with the county had expired.

“It just tells us that we were right all along,” said Farrell, 52, a Ventura resident. “The county can’t just take property from people without paying for it.”

Harbor manager Lyn Krieger said she will recommend that an appeal be filed when she and county attorneys meet with the Board of Supervisors next week.

Krieger said county officials disagreed when Ventura County Superior Court Judge Frederick H. Bysshe ruled in September that the county couldn’t stop the Farrells from removing more than 500 boat slips when their lease ended.

But under the law, they could not appeal the ruling until a jury decided how much compensation the Farrells should receive, Krieger said.

After lengthy negotiations over a lease extension failed, the county put the operation of the marina out to bid. The Farrells lost to Vintage Marina, a Dana Point-based operator that plans to upgrade the aging docks.