Palos Verdes Estates reaches settlement with surfers trying to rein in notorious surf gang

LOS ANGELES (CN) — A longstanding legal dispute over the Lunada Bay Boys, once known as “America’s most notorious surf gang,” is finally at an end. Probably.

Lawyers told Superior Court Judge Lawrence Riff on Tuesday that the highly affluent city of Palos Verdes Estates, named as a defendant in the lawsuit, had reached a settlement with the two surfers — Cory Spencer and Diana Miernik — who accused the city of looking the other way amidst widespread reports of surf gang localism at the prized city-owned beach, Lunada Bay.

“In terms of the details of the agreement, I think we’re done dickering amongst lawyers,” Spencer and Miernik’s attorney, Kurt Franklin, told Riff.

The agreement still needs to be approved by the Palos Verdes Estates City Council, which is meeting Tuesday night in a closed session.

“As far as we’re concerned, it’s a done deal — pending City Council approval,” said Christopher Pisano, the lawyer representing the city, who added that the city manager, the executive who answers to the elected council, had already signed off on the agreement. “At the staff level, the city is agreeable.”

The attorneys revealed little about the terms of the settlement, except to say that it would involve a five-year consent decree, giving the court jurisdiction to enforce its terms. Franklin has said that his clients want the city to make improvements to the beach that would encourage visitors, including welcome signs, a safer trail leading from the bluffs down to the cove, water fountains and bike racks. They also want increased police presence and a promisee to report all incidents of localism to the California Coastal Commission.

When their suit was first filed in 2016, Spencer and Miernik named 12 alleged members of the Lunada Bay Boys as defendants, calling them a “criminal street gang” and accusing them of “assault, battery, vandalism, intimidation, harassment [and] extortion.” One by one, all but one reached settlements, agreeing to stay away from the beach for a year and to pay between $35,000 and $90,000**.** Alan Johnson was the last defendant remaining when the trial started in early August.

Johnson’s lawyer said Tuesday that he, too, had reached a settlement with Spencer and Miernik, though it is conditional on the Palos Verdes City Council approving its own settlement.

Another plaintiff, the Coastal Protection Rangers, an advocacy group, has also been working on settlement with the two defendants, but it’s unclear if one has been reached.

Any settlement will also have to be approved by Judge Riff. The parties are expected to appear in court again on Wednesday afternoon to give an update.

After about three weeks of proceedings, the Lunada Bay trial was paused, when Judge Riff urged the parties to enter into negotiations, mediated by a different superior court judge, Timothy Dillon.

Lunada Bay is well known among Southern California surfers for its premier big waves — and for its localism. The Encyclopedia of Surfing once noted, “Visiting surfers since the early 1970s have had rocks thrown at them while walking down the cliffside Lunada trail, and returned from the water to find their car windows broken and their tires slashed — the work of local surfers, the sons of millionaires, determined to keep their break free of outsiders.”

But plaintiffs struggled, during the trial, to show that Lunada Bay localism was part of an organized effort, rather than just random acts of poor behavior. The plaintiffs called two alleged Bay Boys to the stand as hostile witnesses, both of whom denied the existence of the Bay Boys and of localism.

Riff has said that unless all parties reach settlements, the trial will restart on Thursday.

Follow @hillelaron