Essay writers win consolation prize in lieu of house
The ending to Ben Waldrep’s “Why I Want to Live in Manhattan Beach” essay contest has finally been written -- on refund checks made out to 1,716 entrants.
That’s a far cry from the $1-million house with an ocean view that Waldrep offered to the winner of the writing competition he commissioned in 2000 as a charity fundraiser when he decided to move from the California beach city after the death of his wife.
Essayists paid a $195 entry fee. Anticipating thousands of entrants, Waldrep pledged to donate 10% of the total fees to the Wellness Community, a nonprofit group that had counseled Iris Waldrep as she was dying of lung cancer.
But only 1,812 entries were received. When a panel of local teachers selected the winning essay in 2001, its writer -- a Vancouver, British Columbia, store worker -- declined to claim the two-story, 1,850-square-foot house. Waldrep sold it three years later for $1.2 million and pocketed the money.
Losing essayists were puzzled when they read winner David McNair’s piece, described by one as “a hodgepodge.”
“Summertime concerts are held at Polliwog Park. People come from all over to hear the music till it’s dark. This is community at its best,” it read in part.
The losers were furious when the house went unclaimed. Alleging that the contest was rigged, essay writer Don Coulson of Temecula filed what became a class-action lawsuit in 2002.
Waldrep was ordered in Los Angeles County Superior Court to return the entry fees to participants covered by the class-action suit. A jury also awarded punitive damages from cash Waldrep received from the house’s 2004 sale. In a mix-up, jurors mistakenly awarded each contestant $1.2 million, instead of divvying up the $1.2 million 1,716 ways.
Waldrep declared bankruptcy before things were untangled and the judgment could be enforced. Ten months ago, the lawsuit was finally settled, and Waldrep agreed to repay the $195 entry fees.
Now 79 and living in El Segundo, Waldrep, a retired Boeing engineering administrator, could not be reached Thursday for comment. But the contestants were pleased as they watched for their checks in the mail.
“I thought the original $1-million ‘judgment’ was hilarious. I didn’t think I’d get that,” said Gayle Brandeis, a novelist who lives in Riverside. “My mom paid the entry fee for me, so she’ll get it back.”
Brandeis had written about how she wanted to win the house so her mother could move to California to be near her. “It was mushy, but it was written from the heart,” she said.
Coulson, who retired about 18 months ago to Vancouver, said he still wanted to know what McNair’s relationship was with Waldrep. He stressed that he moved there because he is Canadian and has friends in Vancouver -- not because McNair is there.
“I’ll go to my grave wondering about this,” said Coulson, 74. “I’ve thought about putting a book together on this whole thing. But until we know Dave McNair’s situation the story can’t be told.”
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