Appeal against Steel tossed

Deepa Bharath

A three-judge Appellate Court panel on Wednesday threw out an appeal

filed by a local man claiming that Councilman Chris Steel violated

the election code during the 2000 City Council elections.

In July 2001, Superior Court Judge Thierry Patrick Colaw dismissed

Costa Mesa resident Michael Szkaradek’s civil lawsuit that alleged

Steel committed felonies by allowing resident Richard Noack to sign

for his wife, Marilyn, on 2000 election nomination papers.

If he had been found liable in that civil case, Steel would have

had to give up his council seat. But Colaw said he did not find any

evidence that Steel had deliberately falsified his nomination papers.

The Orange County district attorney also charged Steel with two

felony counts in May 2001 for allowing Noack to sign for his wife and

for signing for a legally blind woman during the 1998 council

election, which he lost.

Szkaradek appealed Colaw’s decision, but the Court of Appeals

decided Wednesday that he had not filed his appeal in a timely

manner.

Steel’s attorney, Ron Cordova, said Szkaradek had 60 days after

the decision to file a notice of appeal, but that he didn’t do so.

The panel of judges, he said, also added a paragraph in its judgment

saying that even if the appeal had been filed in a timely manner, the

appeal would have been dismissed.

Szkaradek said he was “very disappointed” with the decision.

“I don’t agree that I had filed the appeal late,” he said. “But

anyway, that’s the court’s decision. I believe I got completely

stonewalled on this one.”

Szkaradek said he has about two weeks to ask for a rehearing or

file an appeal to the state Supreme Court. But, he added, he is not

likely to pursue either of those options.

He said he still believes that his lawsuit had merit.

“Otherwise, the district attorney wouldn’t have filed criminal

charges,” he said.

Steel was not available for comment on Friday. Cordova said his

client “has been vindicated.”

“It was anticlimactic, in a way,” he said. “It was also unusual

for the Appellate Court to underscore the illegitimacy of an appeal

by saying they would’ve [thrown out the appeal] even if it had been

filed on time.”

* DEEPA BHARATH covers public safety and courts. She may be

reached at (949) 574-4226 or by e-mail at deepa.bharath@latimes.com.