Litigation Committee

Building Inspection Commission (BIC)

Committee Meeting of October 1, 1998

Adopted on December 17, 1998

1660 Mission Street, San Francisco, CA 94103

MINUTES

The meeting of the Litigation Committee of the Building Inspection Commission was called to order at 1:05 p.m. by Chair Vasquez.

1.	ROLL CALL - Roll call was taken and a quorum was certified.

COMMITTEE MEMBERS/STAFF PRESENT:

Roy Guinnane, Commissioner

Armando Vasquez, Commissioner

COMMISSION STAFF:

Maria Banico, Commission Secretary

D.B.I. REPRESENTATIVES:

Lesley Stansfield, Manager of Housing Inspection Services

Robert Noelke, Senior Housing Inspector

Rafael Torres-Gil, Senior Building Inspector

CITY ATTORNEY'S REPRESENTATIVE:

Kimon Manolius, Deputy City Attorney

2.	Public Comment.

There were no members of the public present at the meeting, the Committee did not receive any public testimony.

3.	Report and discussion on the litigation and settlement processes.

Deputy City Attorney Kimon Manolius reported that two new attorneys had been hired for code enforcement. He said that one of the new lawyers had extensive experience with the Trial Team. He had also worked extensively with the other new lawyer who had experience working on Tenderloin issues.

Commissioner Guinnane asked if the billing for the new hires would be the same as those for current Cit Attorney's Office staff working with DBI.

Deputy City Attorney Manolius said that the billing would follow the regular schedule.

Vice-President Vasquez said that the Commission appreciates any additional help.

4.	Report, discussion, and possible action to convene a Closed Session on existing litigation described below as agenda items 4(c)(1) to 4(c)(8).

a.	Public Comment on all matter pertaining to the Closed Session.

Chair Vasquez directed that items (1) to (8) be taken together and announced the items for discussion in Closed Session. He noted for the record that there were no members of the public present.

b.	Possible action to convene a Closed Session.

Commissioner Guinnane moved, seconded by Chair Vasquez, to convene a Closed Session, based on the finding that a Closed Session was necessary to protect the City's litigation posture and ability to work on proposed settlements.

The motioned passed unanimously.

The Committee went into Closed Session from 1:10 to 2:05 p.m.

c.	CONFERENCE WITH LEGAL COUNSEL

(1) Existing Litigation:	960 Harrison Street

Update on the status of litigation and possible action to formulate strategies or accept settlement offer in the case of CCSF v. Jimmy Jen a/k/a Kaimen Jimmy Jen. (Superior Court No. 987-138)

(2) Existing Litigation:	55 Mason Street (Ambassador Hotel)

Update on the status of litigation and possible action to formulate strategies or accept settlement offer in the case of CCSF v. Vasilios Glimidakis. (Superior Court No. 993-534)

(3) Existing Litigation:	47 - 51 6th Street (Hillsdale Hotel in SOMA)

Update on the status of litigation and possible action to formulate strategies or accept settlement offer in the case of CCSF v. Hitendra A. Sihn. (Superior Court No. 992-949)

(4) Existing Litigation:	532 Shotwell Street

Update on the status of litigation and possible action to formulate strategies or accept settlement offer in the case of CCSF v. Perry S. Acosta, Trustee. (Superior Court No. 990-300)

(5) Existing Litigation:	124 Turk Street (Camelot Hotel)

Update on the status of litigation and possible action to formulate strategies or accept settlement offer in the case of CCSF v. Balubhai I. Patel. (Superior Court No. 927-874)

(6) Existing Litigation:	387 South Van Ness Avene

Update on the status of litigation and stipulated judgment in the case of CCSF v. Remberto and Lourdes Sainez. (Superior Court No. 980-411)

(7) Existing Litigation:	2270 Bryant Street

Update on the status of litigation and possible action to formulate strategies or accept settlement offer in the case of CCSF v. Anita Sit. (Superior Court No. 993-804)

(8) Existing Litigation:	894 Innes Avenue

Update on the status of litigation and possible action to formulate strategies in the case of CCSF v. Manning. (Superior Court No. 982-078)

After the Closed Session, Commissioner Guinnane moved, seconded by Chair Vasquez, not to disclose the details of the discussion during Closed Session.

The motioned carried unanimously.

5.	Discussion and possible action with respect to those items that could be placed on the agenda of future Committee meetings.

Deputy City Attorney Manolius proposed that the next meeting of the Litigation Committee be held on November 19, 1998 at 1:00 p.m.

Chair Vasquez and Commissioner Guinnane concurred. Chair Vasquez said that the Committee will continue to follow up on the cases discussed at this meeting.

6.	Commissioner Inquiries and Review of Communication Items: At this time, the Committee may make inquiries to staff regarding the status of various documents, policies, practices and procedures which are of interest to the Committee and may discuss communication items received since the last Committee meeting.

There were no communication items received for this meeting. Also, there was no discussion under this agenda item.

7.	Approval of the Minutes of the Committee Meeting of August 13, 1998.

There was no action taken on the Minutes of the Committee Meeting of August 13, 1998.

8.	Public Comment: The BIC Committee will take public comment on matters within the Committee's jurisdiction that are not part of this agenda.

There was no public testimony received at this point in the proceedings.

9.	Adjournment.

There being no other business, and on a motion made by Commissioner Guinnane, seconded by Chair Vasquez, the meeting adjourned at 2:10 p.m.

The motion passed by unanimous vote.

________________________________

MARIA G. T. BANICO

Commission Secretary

Çã