Abuse lawsuit dropped

A man who accused a Newport Beach videographer of molesting him when he was a child and teenager in the 1990s has dropped his lawsuit.

A man identified as John Doe in a suit accusing Todd Summers of molesting him at a Mormon church in Costa Mesa and in Summers’ parents’ home and their business was dismissed Thursday without a settlement or any money exchanged, attorneys said. Criminal charges were never filed by police, who cited a lack of evidence.

Though exact ages were not available, the plaintiff is in his early 30s and Summers is in his early 40s, according to an attorney handling the case.

The lawsuit also named the local Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and its Salt Lake City headquarters, claiming the church had a responsibility to prevent the alleged abuse. The church settled with the plaintiff for $100,000 in late March.

Summers’ parents and their business properties were also named.

Each party settled out of court, said Vince Finaldi, who represented the plaintiff.

The only one who did not settle with the accuser was Summers.

“I’m glad that a friend of mine, who frankly, after our complete investigation, was totally blameless was vindicated with a dismissal,” said Steven Young, Summers’ attorney. “We are gratified that this is finally over ... I think it was a conscious business decision on their part that [taking it to trial] just wasn’t worth it.”

“In the end, we’ve got to make a decision. We can spend a lot more money, a lot more time and effort battling this out. But in the end, Todd’s completely insolvent,” Finaldi said.

The accusations against the church were thrown out earlier in the case, but Finaldi appealed.

Bob Crockett, who represented the church in court, said it was simply cheaper to settle with Finaldi’s client than to fight the appeal.

Summers’ attorneys, Young and Jim Mahacek, claim that Finaldi dropped the suit because their client was innocent.

Costa Mesa police investigated and never charged Summers with molesting his accuser, who is seven years his junior.

Finaldi maintains Summers did abuse his client. Summers introduced the boy to the Mormon church.

In e-mails provided to the Daily Pilot, Finaldi and Mahacek bickered over an agreement that the suit against Summers would be dropped if they lost their appeal regarding the Mormon church. Each man argues that the church settling would make him de facto winners of the case.

“Indeed, Doe would have never agreed to a stipulation requiring him to dismiss action against Mr. Summers ... in the event of a settlement of the appeal,” Finaldi wrote to Mahacek on March 30. “Such would be a preposterous and obviously unjust result.”

Mahacek called the case “meritless” and said the case should have been dropped earlier.

In another e-mail sent 12 days later, Finaldi accused Mahacek of relying on the technicality of their agreement to avoid trial.

Mahacek said that either Finaldi and his client took a bad risk with their agreement to drop the case if they did not win the appeal, did not understand what they were getting into, or that Finaldi simply lost.