January 15, 2009

South Beverly Park Gains Access in Dispute

By ALEXA HYLAND - 1/15/2009
Los Angeles Business Journal Staff

In the ongoing battle of the Beverly Park estates, South Beverly Park claimed victory after a Los Angeles Superior
Court judge ruled on Tuesday that the guests and invitees of the exclusive community may enter through the gates
of neighboring North Beverly.

Residents of the gated Beverly Park community – which is nestled between Beverly Hills and Mulholland Drive –
began fighting when the northerners ended 20 years of neighborly relations and started restricting access through
their community.

When the visitors, gardeners, construction crews and nannies of those who live in the sprawling mansions of South
Beverly Park tried to gain access from North Beverly Park’s gate at Mulholland Drive, they were forced to take a
seven-mile detour along the winding and often narrow streets of Coldwater Canyon Drive or Benedict Canyon
Drive.

The fight pitted North Beverly Park residents, including media barons Sumner Redstone and Haim Saban and
aviation titan Steven Udvar-Hazy, against South Beverly Park residents, including basketball star Earvin “Magic”
Johnson and producer Richard Zanuck.

Residents of the north have argued that their southern neighbors refused to pay for maintenance of the private
streets, and claimed that the service guests and staff often drove too fast and entered the community with no
intention of stopping at the homes in the south, instead using it as a shortcut for commuting.

However, the southern residents claimed that they were not required to pay for upkeep, and argued that the
homeowners association’s rules allowed them, and their guests and invitees, access through North Beverly Park’s
gates.

Steven Goldberg, an attorney representing the residents of South Beverly Park, said his clients are glad to see the
dispute end.

“My clients, after all this time, they are very pleased,” Goldberg said. “It’s been a long time coming. Their position
has been vindicated.”
Jeff Huron, an attorney representing the residents of North Beverly Park, did not immediately return a request for
comment. But, Huron’s clients have 15 days to object to the ruling handed down by Superior Court Judge Norman
Tarle.

If the decision isn’t contested, Goldberg said that his clients will be asking for compensatory and punitive damages,
both of which could separately hit seven-figure sums.

Los Angeles Business Journal, Copyright © 2009, All Rights Reserved.

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