Tag Archives: Depositions

Three Depositions Of LAPD Officers Reveal Interesting Facts About The City Attorney’s Gentrification-Enhancing Nuisance Abatement Program — They Force Property Owners To Install Surveillance Cameras And Give LAPD Immediate Access To The Feed — E.g. Holiday Liquor At 4966 W. Adams Has Cameras That Cops Can Watch You On 24/7 Without Even Asking Anyone — And It Really Sounds Like These Cops Made Up Stories About Whatever Bad Stuff Was Happening At The Liquor Store — And Those Damn Gang Classes LAPD Teaches…

September 1, 2020 Mike Leave a comment

Nuisance abatement suits are brought by the Los Angeles City Attorney against homeowners or commercial landlords or tenants who allegedly allow their property to be used to further criminal activity. The City of Los Angeles notoriously uses such suits along with gang injunctions and the myriad of laws criminalizing homelessness to effect and defend the progress of gentrification.¹

The suits benefit the City on a number of levels. More broadly they’re a way to terrorize poor property owners by reminding them that they can be randomly targeted and forced to sell their homes. Nuisance suits also give the City a way to change the character of a neighborhood by targeting businesses that don’t suit the image being created by gentrifying developers. Most pragmatically, most cynically, the City also uses them to increase its surveillance capacities in gentrifying neighborhoods.

For instance, prior to bringing suit the City often demands that property owners install street-facing surveillance cameras and give LAPD full-time at-will access to the video feed. If you’re walking by Holiday Liquor at 4966 W. Adams, e.g., smile for the camera because LAPD is watching you! This phenomenon, among many others, is discussed in an essential recent paper by Ananya Roy, Terra Graziani, and Pamela Stephens, who note that in the infamous 2017 Chesapeake Apartments nuisance case, the City sought a number of concessions of this sort from the owner:

the establishment of extensive security systems at the property with direct access by the Los Angeles Police Department to these systems of monitoring and surveillance. … including video monitoring and electronic access control systems and private security guards.

Continue reading Three Depositions Of LAPD Officers Reveal Interesting Facts About The City Attorney’s Gentrification-Enhancing Nuisance Abatement Program — They Force Property Owners To Install Surveillance Cameras And Give LAPD Immediate Access To The Feed — E.g. Holiday Liquor At 4966 W. Adams Has Cameras That Cops Can Watch You On 24/7 Without Even Asking Anyone — And It Really Sounds Like These Cops Made Up Stories About Whatever Bad Stuff Was Happening At The Liquor Store — And Those Damn Gang Classes LAPD Teaches… →

Cory Spencer v. Lunada Bay Boys

Lunada Bay Boys Judge James Otero Accepts Magistrate Judge Rozella Oliver’s Report And Recommendation With Respect To Defendant Brant Blakeman, Thereby Putting Him On The Hook For Monetary Sanctions To Plaintiffs, A New Deposition On His Dime, And Plaintiffs Will Be Allowed To Present Evidence At Trial About Blakeman’s Missing Texts

February 12, 2018 Mike Leave a comment

For background take a look at this excellent article from the Times on this lawsuit. Also see here to download all pleadings in this case. You can also read all my posts on the case.

Listen, I really apologize for the fact that the last you, my audience heard, the Lunada Bay Boys trial was scheduled for February 6. In December Otero cancelled this trial date and has not yet set a new one. I’m not sure why I didn’t write about it, but I didn’t. As soon as a new trial date is set I’ll let you know, and will do my very best to keep on top of announcing cancellations.

The last time we heard from the Bay Boys or their attorneys was in January of this year, with Brant Blakeman mouthpiece Thomas Stobart arguing against Rozella Oliver’s report and recommendation for sanctions against Blakeman for his failure to preserve a bunch of his text messages. His argument essentially consisted of putting scare quotes around everything Oliver wrote in her report, possibly intending to make her recommendations against his client seem silly or something.

That her recommendations were not silly was and is completely obvious to anyone who read Oliver’s report, and thus it was in some sense no surprise that this morning, Judge James Otero filed an order accepting Oliver’s report and recommendations for sanctions against Brant Blakeman. There’s a transcription of this PDF after the break.

In short, though, it requires Blakeman to pay plaintiffs’ attorneys’ fees and costs for the motion for sanctions against him and to submit to another deposition about the text messages he did not preserve (and to pay plaintiffs’ attorneys’ fees and costs for the deposition). It also allows the plaintiffs to present evidence at trial about the missing text messages. It’s not the entire war, but it’s a significant tactical victory for the plaintiffs. Turn the page for a transcription of Otero’s order.
Continue reading Lunada Bay Boys Judge James Otero Accepts Magistrate Judge Rozella Oliver’s Report And Recommendation With Respect To Defendant Brant Blakeman, Thereby Putting Him On The Hook For Monetary Sanctions To Plaintiffs, A New Deposition On His Dime, And Plaintiffs Will Be Allowed To Present Evidence At Trial About Blakeman’s Missing Texts →

Cory Spencer v. Lunada Bay Boys

Lunada Bay Boys Judge James Otero Orders Post-Deadline Deposition Of Plaintiff Organization Coastal Protection Rangers To Take Place By August 24 Or, At The Latest, September 15

August 19, 2017 Mike Leave a comment

For background take a look at this excellent article from the Times on this lawsuit. Also see here to download all pleadings in this case.

The other day the Lunada Bay Boys defendants asked Judge James Otero if they could depose the Coastal Protection Rangers, who is one of the plaintiffs in the case, despite the fact that the deadline for depositions has passed. Yesterday Otero issued an order allowing them to do so. There’s a transcription of the order after the break.
Continue reading Lunada Bay Boys Judge James Otero Orders Post-Deadline Deposition Of Plaintiff Organization Coastal Protection Rangers To Take Place By August 24 Or, At The Latest, September 15 →

Cory Spencer v. Lunada Bay Boys

Lunada Bay Boys Plaintiffs File Tons Of Stuff In Opposition To Individual Defendants’ Various Motions For Summary Judgment Including Excerpts From The Long Awaited Deposition Of Jalian Johnston!

August 7, 2017 Mike Leave a comment

For background take a look at this excellent article from the Times on this lawsuit. Also see here to download all pleadings in this case.

You may well recall that recently all the defendants in the Lunada Bay Boys case filed motions for summary judgment:

And this afternoon the plaintiffs filed their opposition to all these motions along with a ton of supporting paper. The opposition is well worth reading, and there are selections after the break. There’s also a list of all the other documents filed, and if you only read one of these, make it these selections from Jalian Johnston’s deposition. You may well remember that it was close to impossible to schedule this damn depo. Well, for sheer weirdness, it was worth the wait.

Some items are quoted verbatim in the cartoon at the head of this post, but there’s lots, lots, lots more in there. It’s also worth taking a look at the Plaintiffs’ Additional Material Facts in Opposition, which constitutes a good guide to all the dozens of other items filed tonight and previously.
Continue reading Lunada Bay Boys Plaintiffs File Tons Of Stuff In Opposition To Individual Defendants’ Various Motions For Summary Judgment Including Excerpts From The Long Awaited Deposition Of Jalian Johnston! →

Cory Spencer v. Lunada Bay Boys

Jalian Johnston Deposition Rescheduled For July 28, No Sanctions Just Now Says Magistrate Judge Rozella Oliver Cause He Appears To Have Tried His Best

June 30, 2017 Mike Leave a comment

For background take a look at this excellent article from the Times on this lawsuit. Also see here to download all pleadings in this case.

The week of arguing over Jalian Johnston’s deposition in the Lunada Bay Boys case seems finally to be over!² This afternoon the Honorable Rozella Oliver filed a minute order essentially accepting Jalian Johnston’s version of things. The order schedules his depo for July 28, refuses to sanction Jalian, and makes a few concessions to the plaintiffs to make up for the late deposition. You can read a transcription after the break.
Continue reading Jalian Johnston Deposition Rescheduled For July 28, No Sanctions Just Now Says Magistrate Judge Rozella Oliver Cause He Appears To Have Tried His Best →

Cory Spencer v. Lunada Bay Boys

Lunada Bay Boys Parties Still Getting Fussy Over Scheduling Of Jalian Johnston Deposition, Magistrate Judge Oliver Says Work It Out By This Friday Or Else Write “I Will Not Be An Asshole” 5000 Times On The Board Everybody Has To File Five Page Briefs Explaining Why They Can’t Schedule The Damn Depo Like Grownups

June 26, 2017 Mike Leave a comment

For background take a look at this excellent article from the Times on this lawsuit. Also see here to download all pleadings in this case.

Recall that as of ten days ago the parties in the Lunada Bay Boys surf-thuggery case found themselves unable to schedule defendant Alan “Jalian” Johnston’s deposition. Well, this afternoon, Magistrate Judge Rozella Oliver filed a minute order reporting that they still have not been able to schedule the deposition (as always, there’s a transcription after the break). Furthermore, she orders them to get their damn act together and have it scheduled by Friday, June 30 or else everyone has to write five page briefs explaining what they did to try to come to terms with one another. This is, I think, the judicial equivalent of the babies getting fussy and scratching at themselves until mom makes them put their mittens on.

Jalian Johnston, of course, is more than just a non-member of the County’s most famous nonexistent surf local nongang. He is also a make-believe poor boy who “likes to live as if he were penniless,” and, additionally, a dedicated crafter who sells his world-famous crafts at local souvenir shops. He is also the proud possessor of a Zonker-Harris-esque surflosophy, proudly propounded in that linked-to article which, also interestingly, turns out to essentially subvert a crucial element of the defense of the case:
Continue reading Lunada Bay Boys Parties Still Getting Fussy Over Scheduling Of Jalian Johnston Deposition, Magistrate Judge Oliver Says Work It Out By This Friday Or Else ~~Write “I Will Not Be An Asshole” 5000 Times On The Board~~ Everybody Has To File Five Page Briefs Explaining Why They Can’t Schedule The Damn Depo Like Grownups →

Cory Spencer v. Lunada Bay Boys

City Of Palos Verdes Estates Shortcircuits Ongoing Discovery Dispute By Just Handing Over The Damn Private Investigator’s Report On How The Undercover Sting Operation Got Blown, But The Squabbles Never Cease And Now They Are Fighting Over Scheduling Defendant Alan Johnston’s Deposition!

June 16, 2017 Mike Leave a comment

Jeff Kepley is sworn in as new police chief of Palos Verdes Estates, CA. The ceremony for Chief Kepley, who was joined by family, friends, council members from PVE, and many police from various cities, took place at the La Venta Inn, located in Palos Verdes Estates.

For background take a look at this excellent article from the Times on this lawsuit. Also see here to download all pleadings in this case.

A few days ago I wrote about a telephonic conference between the Lunada Bay Boys case plaintiffs and the City defendants³ before magistrate judge Rozella Oliver. They were fighting over a report submitted by a private eye hired by the City to figure out who blew a planned sting operation against the Bay Boys’ surf thuggery.

At that time Judge Oliver ordered the parties to brief her thoroughly on the matter. Well, it seems that the City decided to just hand over the report rather than fight about it any more. Hence they all filed a joint stipulation asking the judge not to make them write the briefs any more. You’ll find a transcription of the stipulation after the break. It’s not by any means clear that we’ll be able to get our hands on the report itself, although often discovery material turns up in the exhibits to later motions, so maybe we will.

However, all is not peaceful on the PVP!⁴ Evidently the parties had another telephone call with Judge Oliver yesterday in which they had to admit that they couldn’t agree on how to schedule defendant Alan Johnston’s deposition. She told them more or less to work it out amongst themselves or everyone would have to have another damn phone call. Here’s a link to the minute order summarizing the call, and a transcription of this one is also available after the break.
Continue reading City Of Palos Verdes Estates Shortcircuits Ongoing Discovery Dispute By Just Handing Over The Damn Private Investigator’s Report On How The Undercover Sting Operation Got Blown, But The Squabbles Never Cease And Now They Are Fighting Over Scheduling Defendant Alan Johnston’s Deposition! →

Cory Spencer v. Lunada Bay Boys

Plaintiffs: Your Honor, We Respectfully Request That You Pay No Mind To Brant Blakeman’s Request For Judicial Notice Because It Is Late, It Is Irrelevant, It Is Not On Point, It Constitutes Unprofessional Subterfuge, And It Is Stinking Amateurish Bullshit Of The First Water

January 31, 2017 Mike Leave a comment

For background take a look at this excellent article from the Times on this lawsuit.

Oh dear, friends, more drama swirls around the Lunada Bay Boys case.⁵ You may recall that, the other day, defendant Brant Blakeman asked the Judge to take judicial notice of the fact that proposed class representative Diana Reed had a default judgement against her in L.A. County Superior Court for a bunch of torts including one or more flavors of fraud and that that fact made her somehow unsuitable to represent the class of plaintiffs in this case. Tonight the plaintiffs’ response hit PACER, facetiously but accurately summarized in the headline, along with some other stuff, and I have copies for you along with descriptions, find it all after the break.
Continue reading Plaintiffs: Your Honor, We Respectfully Request That You Pay No Mind To Brant Blakeman’s Request For Judicial Notice Because It Is Late, It Is Irrelevant, It Is Not On Point, It Constitutes Unprofessional Subterfuge, And It Is Stinking Amateurish Bullshit Of The First Water →