Forster Mansion Owners Say They Don't Owe Annoyed Neighbors Anything

The owners of the say they shouldn’t have to pay any damages stemming from a lawsuit filed by a neighbor against them, the city and a couple who used to host weddings there.

In September, – one of many historic properties in San Juan Capistrano – of a permit allowing it to host weddings. City staffers had determined that wedding planners Arpi and Peter Evans continually violated city laws with sewage spills onto Ortega Highway, unscreened portable toilets and amplified music.

But , filed in August by nearby residents Cameron and Pierre Grenier, lives on. Cameron Grenier said it's ultimately up to the property owners, Phillip and Maryanne Charis, to compensate them for the nuisance they endured for three years.

Although Grenier described the Evanses as “out-of-control tenants,” their actions are the responsibility of the landlords, she said.

“They [the Charises] could have rectified the situation because they are the owners,” she said. “We feel they are the issue. Arpi Evans was just the vehicle. She was a bully, and the Charises knew it.”

They could have rectified the situation because they are the owners

– Cameron Grenier

But in legal documents filed earlier this month, the Charises disagree.

“[The Charises] deny that they did in any manner cause the injuries of plaintiffs,” the owners said in a cross-complaint filed against the Evanses.

The owners’ legal argument boils down to the fact that the Evanses broke the terms of their contract with the Charises by violating city laws and failing to buy and maintain a commercial general-liability insurance policy.

The Charises recently changed lawyers. David R. Highman of Newport Beach was unavailable for comment.

If the Greniers prove successful in their lawsuit against the Charises, “such liability will be solely of a passive, secondary, vicarious and derivative nature and predicated upon the direct, primary, active and affirmative acts and/or omissions of” the Evanses, the filing states.

The latest wrangling is one in an ongoing series of legal entanglements:

• August 2010: The Charises filed an unlawful detainer suit against the Evanses, alleging they were owed $148,000 in past-due rent
• March 14: Arpi Evans sued the Charises for fraud, saying they did not give her the property in accordance with her lease-purchase option
• April 18: Arpi Evans filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy, naming somewhere between one and 49 creditors to whom she owes as much as $1 million.
• Aug. 8: The Greniers sued the Evanses, the Charises and the city
• Sept. 2: Old Town Inc., the owners of the property where Evans runs Coconuts Restaurant, gave her a three-day notice to pay rent or forfeit her lease, which she held since May 2006. She reportedly owes $41,576 for five months of rent
• Dec. 2: The Charises countersue the Evanses.