Brett Kelman

The Desert Sun

Nearly $238,000 of taxpayer money has been spent on lawsuits over a large hedge in Indian Wells.

The latest lawsuit, which is ongoing, asks for $10M.

INDIAN WELLS, Calif. – The dispute began innocently enough. A woman walked into City Hall, scribbled on a complaint form, then handed it to the city clerk.

“Row of ficus too high,” she wrote. “Blocking view.”

The ficus were on Vista Dorado Drive in Indian Wells, one of the most affluent cities in California. Thirty trees made a living wall – 25 feet tall and 80 feet long – that wrapped around the upscale home of Doug Lawellin, 58, and Steven Rohlin, 69, a married couple. The complainant was their neighbor. After years of staring at their hedge, she was sick of it.

Two days later, Indian Wells sent a letter to Lawellin and Rohlin, asking them to trim the hedge. They said no. Six months after that, the city created a new ordinance that said no hedge could be taller than nine feet, then ordered the couple to trim their hedge. Indignant, they still said no.

Today – five years and three lawsuits later – the battle over the hedge rages on. Attorneys have billed the city for more than one thousand hours working on these lawsuits, costing taxpayers nearly $283,000. Most likely, the dispute is not even close to finished, and legal costs will rise. Neither side appears willing to surrender.

“It’s a ridiculous situation,” said Indian Wells Mayor Dana Reed. “I think, based on what you’ve told me, there is plenty of blame to go around, for everybody. But if they would simply dismiss their lawsuit, at least then we could stop the bleeding.”

In some ways, this high-priced fight over hedge height speaks to the identity of Indian Wells, a place of extreme wealth. The city, a retirement community of 5,000, has so much money that the Koch brothers hold an annual fundraising summit here. Indian Wells has five country clubs, 11 golf courses and most of the residents live in gated communities. The per capita income is close to $90,000, about three times the national average.

The city also has virtually no crime, blight, poverty or homelessness, so city leaders don’t struggle with normal municipal issues. Instead, they debate the smaller stuff – like in 2014, when the City Council considered a plan to punish residents who used “foul language” by revoking their free tickets to the BNP Paribas tennis tournament.

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But none of that is as weird as the hedge dispute, which has elevated a neighborly argument into a costly courthouse quagmire.

“I think (taxpayers) should be disgusted,” Rohlin said. “I grew up in Beverly Hills. Wealthy people don’t like throwing money away either.”

Indian Wells has sued Lawellin and Rohlin twice in Riverside County court – with the case tossed out on a technical error –and the couple has fired back a federal lawsuit of their own, claiming discrimination. One of the county cases was appealed to a higher court, and there was even an effort to take it to the California Supreme Court, but the justices weren't interested. Attorneys have billed the city through it all, with rates reaching as high as as $336 per hour.

Most of the spending could have been avoided if Indian Wells had seized a chance to settle the hedge dispute back in 2012. At the time, neighbors put aside their differences for peace talks, shook hands and compromised. The hedge would be trimmed to 14 feet, they agreed.

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But the City Council rejected the deal, electing to pursue the matter at trial instead. In court, the city's attorneys defended the decision, saying the hedge height ordinance “must be enforced," even if the underlying complaint had been resolved.

“It’s nonsensical. It’s got to be an ego thing,” said Rohlin. “They didn’t like that we didn’t jump into lockstep and chop down our hedge the first time they asked … And they can afford to be bullies because its not their money they are spending.”

Reed, who wasn’t on the City Council when the settlement was rejected, admitted that the city missed a chance for an easy exit. The settlement would likely have saved tax dollars, he said, but it may have left the door open for future conflicts.

“Then what happens when another neighbor comes along with a complaint?" Reed said. "What would we have done then?”

Of the tax dollars that Indian Wells has already spent, it is possible the city will get some of that money back, but likely the overall expense will continue to grow.

Lawellin and Rohlin have been ordered to reimburse Indian Wells $136,000 that was spent on attorneys during the second hedge lawsuit, which the city won. The couple says it will not pay this amount until their federal discrimination lawsuit is resolved because a victory might erase the debt. However, the federal lawsuit isn't set to go to trial until next April. By then, Indian Wells may have spent twice as much money in the third lawsuit than they will recover for attorneys fees in the second lawsuit.

And none of those estimates account for the possibility that Indian Wells might actually lose or settle the federal lawsuit, which asks a jaw-dropping sum of $10 million in damages.

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In the lawsuit, Lawellin and Rohlin say the city is discriminating because officials insist on trimming their hedge but allow other hedges to stand taller than the new city ordinance allows. The city says it only enforces the ordinances when it receives a complaint, and has made a motion to dismiss the lawsuit. A mediation session is set for July 13.

If no resolution can be reached, the city has no choice but to defend itself in court, said Reed, who is also an attorney.

“This shows what one couple can do to a city if they are determined to be obstructionist and obstinate, and it is really sad,” Reed said. “They are – to use a very coarse analogy – showing the middle finger at us. And by us, I don’t mean me. I mean the residents of the whole city.”

Lawellin and Rohlin moved to Indian Wells in 2008 after decades of living in Los Angeles. They bought The Upper Crust, a high-end kitchenware store on El Paseo, then searched for the perfect home for about a year before they settled into a corner lot on Vista Dorado Drive. The house was welcoming and the price was right, but the deal maker was the gigantic hedge in the backyard, which shaded the pool from the harsh sun.

At the time, there were no hints the hedge would be problematic. Indian Wells didn’t have any rules regulating hedge height, so there was no such thing as a too-tall hedge.

But the rules changed in August 2011, when the City Council created a new ordinance – with no grandfather clause – that capped hedge height at nine feet. One of the first places the ordinance was enforced was at Lawellin and Rohlin’s home. The city sent letters, then citations, then filed a lawsuit.

But the couple wouldn't buckle. The battle had begun.

“They gave the city no choice,” said attorney Brian Harnik, who represents Susan Salvatore-Aldridge, the neighbor who first complained about the hedge back in 2011.

“I think the city did the appropriate thing trying to enforce the ordinance," Harnik added. "But nobody knew it would result in a full-blown trial. Nobody could have known what this would cost when it started."

Reporter Brett Kelman can be reached at 760 778 4642 or brett.kelman@desertsun.com. You can follow him on Twitter @TDSbrettkelman.