SD city wants 'massive' suit settled

By Alison St John / Reporter, KPBS Public Broadcasting

Published November 15, 2005 at 9:00 PM PST

This story was published more than 19 years ago.

The San Diego city attorney's office yesterday Tuesday announced an attempt to settle a massive lawsuit for $50 million. The suit could, if unresolved, tip the city into bankruptcy. KPBS reporter Ali

The San Diego city attorney's office Tuesday announced an attempt to settle a massive lawsuit for $50 million. The suit could, if unresolved, tip the city into bankruptcy. KPBS reporter Alison St John has more.

The lawsuit has been hanging over the city ever since a jury found the city broke an 1986 agreement with Roque de la Fuente, who owns a business park on Otay Mesa.

A judge ruled in 2001 the city owed de la Fuente over $90 million. Since then the city has appealed, but the judgment has only grown, and now tops $100 million.

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Assistant city attorney Don McGrath says if a settlement isn't reached before an appeals court judge rules on the case, the liability could be more difficult to overcome financially than the pension deficit.

McGrath: "The pension we could work it out over time, we could cut benefits, but this could be like, boom here you go and we gotta react to that, that's why we gotta settle it."

Both sides say they've offered to settle, but repeated negotiations have failed to produce results. A Riverside Appeals Court could rule in the next month. Alison St John KPBS news.

Alison St John

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Alison St John currently serves as a general assignment reporter and occasionally co-hosts KPBS Midday Edition. She fell in love with KPBS Radio when she arrived in San Diego in 1985 and first heard NPR. She has been a voice on KPBS Radio since 1989, and has served as a news reporter for radio, TV and the web, as well as anchoring, hosting, producing and editing. Alison has reported on stories about North County and was based in the KPBS' North County Bureau. Alison covered the metro beat during the critical period of the San Diego City pension crisis, and the education beat while Alan Bersin was the controversial Superintendent of San Diego City School District. She covered health when the industry was converting to managed care and told welfare reform stories in the late 1990s when Clinton was “ending welfare as we know it.” She has covered land use issues extensively, looking at the challenges of meeting a growing population while preserving community character, and developing a better transportation system to meet environmental concerns. She has done many stories on the military in San Diego, and the series she edited on the challenges veterans face returning from active duty to civilian life won “Best of Show” from the San Diego Society of Professional Journalists. She occasionally hosts the KPBS Roundtable and KPBS Midday Edition. Alison has won awards from the San Diego Press Club, the Society of Professional Journalists, the Associated Press TV and Radio Association, and the California Golden Mike Awards. Alison was born in Tanzania, brought up in Scotland, and earned her degree in psychology and sociology from Durham University in England. Her postgraduate diploma is in student counseling. She worked in England, Nigeria, Switzerland, Belgium, India, and Japan before moving to the United States in 1981. She now lives in Oceanside and enjoys how her community is growing and changing.