Lunada Bay has been the subject of a protracted legal battle that ended this week. Photo: Levin
The legal battle over the Lunada Bay Boys may have finally come to an end. As Courthouse News reports, lawyers told Superior Court Judge Lawrence Riff on Tuesday that the city of Palos Verdes Estates, as well as the final remaining Bay Boy defendant, Alan Johnson, had reached settlements with surfers Cory Spencer and Diana Miernik.
This brings to a close a protracted legal dispute regarding the localization of Lunada Bay. In 2016, Spencer and Miernik filed a suit naming 12 alleged members of the group known as the “Lunada Bay Boys” as defendants. They were accused of using “assault, battery, vandalism, intimidation, harassment [and] extortion” to keep outsiders out of their break. Since then, all but one have reached settlements, which included paying between $35,000 and $90,000 and agreeing to stay away from the beach for a year.
In addition to the Bay Boys themselves, the city of Palos Verdes Estates was also named as a defendant. Spencer and Miernik sought a settlement that would include improvements to the beach to 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 promise to report all incidents of localism to the California Coastal Commission.
The city council met in a closed session on Tuesday night to approve the settlement, and the Daily Journal reports that they signed the agreement. Now the parties have until noon on Sept. 16 to submit a stipulated and proposed judgment to Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Lawrence P. Riff. “They were facing a lot in potential penalties and attorney’s fees,” Christopher Pisano, the lawyer representing the city, told the Daily Journal. “The city is not going to pay any penalties. They’re going to spend some money putting in some new landscaping.”
Regarding the final Bay Boy defendant, Alan Johnson’s lawyer said that he had reached a settlement that was conditional on the court accepting oversight of the city’s resolution.
