Bid to Block Release of Council Depositions Denied : Warner Ridge: Judge rejects the city’s attempt to have the documents in a bitter land-use lawsuit sealed.

Following publication of a revealing deposition given by Los Angeles Councilwoman Joy Picus, a Los Angeles Superior Court judge Friday denied a request by city attorneys to block release of other documents prepared for the bitter Warner Ridge land-use suit.

City attorneys had claimed that depositions, including those given by Councilmen John Ferraro and Zev Yaroslavsky, ought to remain private because they might prove embarrassing or prevent the city from getting a fair hearing in the $100-million lawsuit.

The suit was brought by Warner Ridge Associates, who contend that the City Council acted illegally in rezoning the group’s Woodland Hills property to block construction of office buildings. The trial is expected to begin in January.

The city requested the order earlier this week after Warner Ridge attorneys released Picus’ deposition.

Picus led political opposition to the Warner Ridge project, which the City Council blocked on a narrow vote in January, 1990, after it had been endorsed by the Planning Department and Planning Commission. The Warner Ridge developers claim that Picus had assured them she would support their project until she decided that doing so would make her politically vulnerable.

In her deposition, Picus said she was guided by political considerations rather than land-use concerns in seeking to stymie the proposal to build offices on Warner Ridge, situated just south of Pierce College. According to other documents in the case, the Woodland Hills Homeowners Organization, the prime source of pressure against the project, had allegedly threatened to fight Picus’ reelection if she did not go along with its position.

In subsequent comments, she has described her actions as a heroic, lonely struggle in the face of opposition by powerful and rich developers and their allies. Meanwhile, critics on the Planning Commission and in Mayor Tom Bradley’s office have criticized her for giving in to political pressures and undermining the supposedly neutral deliberations of planners and the Planning Commission.

Robert I. McMurry, an attorney for the Warner Ridge development partnership, said that sealing the documents in the case would have unfairly muzzled the plaintiffs while allowing Picus to continue to speak proudly of her role in the case at public forums and in interviews with reporters.

“They can’t have it both ways,” McMurry said Friday after the favorable ruling. “We are happy the depositions got out because it shows exactly what Mrs. Picus was up to.” He said he and his client would decide Monday whether to release additional documents.

The brief denial of the city’s request for the placing of a temporary lid on documents in the case was issued by Judge Kathryn Doi Todd. The denial said, however, that the city was free to submit further arguments for a permanent order sealing the depositions until they are submitted to the court during the trial.

Deputy City Atty. Glenn Calsada said he has not decided whether to seek a hearing to argue for a formal protective order.

Although Calsada argued in court documents that the release of depositions was designed to harass and embarrass city officials, he said that did not mean he believed the depositions contained embarrassing dialogue. In fact, he said, publication of the documents has been in Picus’ favor.

“As far as I am concerned, much of what they tried to do has backfired,” he said of the Warner Ridge attorneys. “Some of the things that have happened are rather positive. The councilwoman has been besieged with support.”