City wins first Shoemaker suit

by Jason Dietrich

The City of Redondo Beach has won the first round of its legal battle against harbor-area business-owner Stephen P. Shoemaker.

Last Friday, Superior Court Judge Lois A. Smaltz ruled in favor of the City in the case of the Redondo Beach Fun Factory versus the City of Redondo Beach. In addition to dismissing his charges, the court ordered Shoemaker, who owns the Redondo Beach Fun Factory as well as several other area businesses, to pay the city $500 for not producing information requested by their attorneys.

"The ruling is a setback, but I plan on appealing," Shoemaker said.

Shoemaker has a colorful history in Redondo Beach. He is currently under investigation on child pornography charges and plans to run for mayor of Redondo Beach in 2001.

His lawsuit stemmed from a construction project to retrofit a parking structure adjacent to the harbor area. Shoemaker said he suffered a loss of revenue from the Redondo Beach Fun Factory, an amusement arcade located on the International Boardwalk, during the construction.

"The decision on Friday demonstrates that Mr. Shoemaker's allegations against the city are without foundation. He had a year-and-a-half to demonstrate that the city was responsible for denying him business. He couldn't do that," said Redondo Beach City Attorney Jerry Goddard.

"After going through discovery, deposition, and a large amount of documentation from the city and the contractor, she found that his allegations were simply not credible," added Goddard.

Smaltz ruled that Shoemaker hadn't established that customers were denied access to the parking structure, that the construction activities were unreasonable, that the construction caused substantial damage to the business or that the city was negligent in the way it did the construction, said Goddard.

Multiple parties were named in the suit. The City of Redondo Beach, the leaseholder of the upper parking lot deck, the construction firm and the architecture firm who designed the retrofit successfully defended themselves.

Shoemaker still has a lawsuit pending against Redondo Beach in federal court. In that suit he alleges that the City of Redondo Beach violated his civil rights by targeting him and his businesses in a discriminatory manner.

"At the center of his second lawsuit is a claim that the city council has for nearly a decade been making policy decisions intended to adversely impact his business and drive him out of business," Goddard said.

Smaltz's decision will have "absolutely no impact" on his case in federal court Shoemaker said.ER