Court Revives Suit Accusing PVE Of Conspiring With Lunada Bay Boys

PALOS VERDES ESTATES, CA — A California appeals court recently revived a lawsuit against the city of Palos Verdes Estates and local surfer gang the Lunada Bay Boys ruling that the city could be held liable for violating the Coastal Act for allegedly turning a blind eye as the group harassed and drove away beachgoers for decades.

Prosecuting lawyer Kurt Franklin alleged the Lunada Bay Boys have illegally guarded the beach at Lunada Bay for 40 years, in direct violation of the California Coastal Act, which prohibits unpermitted development on public property. Based on the Coastal Act, the appellate court ruled that there was more than one kind of illegal development at the beach.

"We never gave up and could not be more pleased with the court’s precedent-setting decision,” Franklin said. "It's been seven long years, and the Spencer v Lunada Bay Boys and City of Palos Verdes Estates opinion is a great victory for beach-access advocates everywhere. We want to thank the Coastal Commission staff and California AG’s office who supported our appeal with an amicus brief and argument."

Before the lawsuit, a rock fort stood on the sands of Lunada Bay for about 30 years that had a roof, stone table and a barbecue area. Residents and the Bay Boys were known to enjoy the fort. The Palos Verdes Estates City Council voted to dismantle the fort in 2016, despite community pushback.

Over the years, Franklin alleged, visitors were harassed by the Bay Boys who Franklin said would throw rocks at people, yell profanities at them and even expose themselves to people, which the court ruled is a form of non-physical development.

"If you stumbled down there, they'd make you very uncomfortable so that you wouldn't come back," Franklin alleged. "We would say they do all the things a gang would do."

Franklin said his opinion is that the city knew about the actions of the surfer gang, but looked the other way. Franklin said he believes city officials did nothing to stop the group over the years and ignored many requests from the California Coastal Commission to make the beach more accessible to people outside of the community.

The suit alleged the police department and city officials did not do enough to stop the behavior and accused them of encouraging keeping outsiders out of the area.

"What did the city do wrong? They condoned it," Franklin alleged. "They’ve done more than ignore the problem, it's complicit."

Franklin said there have been many promising developments on the case since it was filed in 2016 including the removal of the rock fort, a departure from usual behaviors by the Bay Boys and a larger more diverse group of people coming to visit Palos Verdes Estates beaches.

Going forward, Franklin told Patch he hopes this court ruling inspires the city to take action to make Lunada Bay more welcoming to people who don't live there. Franklin said that this decision will hopefully hold cities accountable and stop similar instances from happening.