Ex-Councilwoman’s Suit Over Name Misspelling Reaches Court

Take note that misspelling someone’s name is serious business. Just ask Janice Cruikshank.

Cruikshank, a former City Council member and school board president in El Segundo, filed a $250,000 lawsuit against William Campbell, a local gadfly, after he sent a letter to the El Segundo Herald weekly newspaper in September 1995 complaining about Cruikshank’s pro-business stance and her support for a carwash on Sepulveda Boulevard.

The case, filed a year ago, is coming to court this week as Campbell’s lawyer, Theresa Nelson, makes a motion to have it dismissed in Torrance Superior Court.

In the letter, Campbell misspelled Cruikshank’s name three times in four paragraphs, writing “Crookshank” instead of the correct spelling. Cruikshank, the owner of an antiques store in Manhattan Beach, took issue with the misspelling’s implication that she was anything but honest.

Campbell maintains that it was an honest mistake. But Cruikshank has her doubts. She said the two have known each other since 1980 and her name often has appeared on election ballots, campaign fliers and posters.

“I have known him for years,” said Cruikshank, who hasn’t held a public office since 1993. “He certainly knows how to spell my name.”

A year after he wrote the first letter, Campbell wrote another letter published last September in the local newspaper emphasizing that he did not intentionally misspell Cruikshank’s name.

But Cruikshank said the letter offered no apology.

“He implied he meant no harm and didn’t know how to spell my name,” she said Wednesday. “But he did not say he was sorry.”

Campbell maintains that he did apologize.

To Campbell, a retired airplane mechanic from Scotland, the lawsuit is preposterous and has gone on longer than he expected.

“It’s ridiculous,” he said. “If this had happened in Glasgow, they would come and knock on your door and say, ‘Do it again buddy, and I’ll give you a swift kick in the behind.’ ”

Campbell has spent more than $8,000 on legal fees and halfheartedly wishes he were in Scotland right now even though he has lived in El Segundo for nearly 20 years.

Instead of an apology, Cruikshank wants a monetary settlement to resolve incident, said her lawyer, Stanley Raskin.