Two Local Courthouses Get High Numbers on Upgrade List

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Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s proposed $220 billion bond referendum earmarks $1.2 billion for courthouse overhauls, and Huntington Park and Long Beach are relatively high on the list.


The plan calls for upgrades of up to 201 California courthouses. The order in which the projects will be financed is based on a range of factors, such as overcrowding.


Huntington Park court is 17th on the list and would receive $83.5 million for a Southeast Los Angeles Court to replace the city’s severely overcrowded facility, which was built in 1954.


Long Beach is No. 30 on the list and is scheduled to receive $158 million to rehab its 45-year-old courthouse or replace it altogether.


L.A. County Supervisor Don Knabe has taken an interest in the Long Beach courthouse and has met with developers who hope to team up with the city in building a courthouse in a location other than the current Ocean Boulevard site. He’s not in favor of waiting on the state, however.


“Even if the bonding process would take care of everything, which we’re not sure it’s will, getting down to the 30th site will be take a long time,” Knabe said. “That’s why we’re trying to do this public-private partnership. Things can happen more quickly if the City of Long Beach is involved. It’s win-win for everyone.”


If the state has not budgeted enough money for each project, it could run out of money before all 201 projects are financed.


Michele Vercoutere, assistant division chief for the county’s Chief Administrative Office, said that she doubts the money set aside will be enough to cover the necessary work at Long Beach, and not only because of the scope of the structural problems.


“My guess is the number is a little low because the state has a tendency to only look at the state side of a project rather than considering the needs of the justice system, the public defender and the district attorney. You can’t run a judicial system with out a D.A. and public defender and all kinds of people that need to be associated with a court case.”


Her office is overseeing the transfer of control of the courts from the counties to the state, which was mandated by the Legislature last year.



Down-N-Out


In-N-Out Burgers Inc. has ordered the public image equivalent of a double-double.


The fast food chain employs L.A.’s top crisis management firm, Sitrick and Co., which is helping handle the fallout from its legal problems.


Long-time corporate vice president and board member Richard Boyd was terminated and removed from the board at a meeting last week.


Boyd is co-trustee for three trusts that hold In-N-Out stock. The beneficiary ultimately will be In-N-Out matriarch Esther Snyder’s primary heir, Lynsi Martinez. Boyd alleged in suits filed late last year that Martinez was trying to oust him from the company and take over. In-N-Out responded by filing a suit Jan. 10 accusing Boyd of embezzlement and fraud, including the use of company construction crews for work at his home.


Sitrick has represented a number of high-profile clients including Rush Limbaugh, Paula Poundstone, Eminem, Roy Disney and Marvin Davis.



On the Move


Weissmann Wolff Bergman Coleman Grodin & Evall LLP promoted Wayne Kazan to partner. Kazan is an entertainment lawyer who joined the firm as an associate in 1998. Beverly Hills-based Weissmann Wolff is home to 24 attorneys. It was founded in 1981 and specializes in entertainment, corporate and litigation.


Connolly Bove Lodge & Hutz LLP, a Wilmington, Del.-based intellectual property firm, has hired Jack McConaghy to be managing partner of its new Los Angeles office, which opened in December. McConaghy was previously a partner at L.A.’s Lyon & Lyon. Clients include Colgate-Palmolive Co., International Business Machines Corp., Pfizer Inc., and Philip Morris International Inc. The firm specializes in patent and trademark disputes.



Hooray for Hollywood


Gibson Dunn & Crutcher LLP partner Larry Ulman represented two studios in a pair of major film financing deals this month. The first called for Dune Entertainment, an affiliate of multibillion-dollar hedge fund Dune Capital, to provide Fox Filmed Entertainment with $325 million to make eight films. Ulman represented Fox. The second was Relativity Media’s deal to bankroll 18 films, 11 at Universal Studios and seven at Sony Pictures Entertainment, to the tune of $600 million through its investment arm, Gun Hill Road LLC. Ulman represented Universal in the second deal. In both cases, the equity funds will receive a share of the profits from the films but will not have creative control.


Not surprisingly, the Walt Disney Co. enlisted a platoon of attorneys to guide its $7.4 billion acquisition of Pixar Animation Studios. Brian McCarthy led the team from Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom LLP. It included Joseph Giuta (corporate), Michael Lawson (benefits) and Moshe Kushman (tax) in Los Angeles. Palo Alto-based Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati P.C represented Pixar.



Legal Gold


In addition to the athletic competitors, Los Angeles will have legal representation in the 2006 Olympic Winter Games in Torino.


Local sports marketing attorney Maidie E. Oliveau was tapped to be one of nine attorneys on the ad hoc division of the Court of Arbitration for Sport, an international panel that settles disputes that arise from such issues as drug tests, eligibility and judging.


This will be Oliveau’s fourth time on the panel, but she will be serving as its only woman. The ad hoc division was established by the International Council of Arbitration for Sport and is the final arbiter of all Olympic Games-related disputes.


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Staff reporter Emily Bryson York can be reached at (323) 549-5225, ext. 235, or at

[email protected]

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