Beglari

BACKGROUND

This case concerns the City’s issuance and subsequent revocation of building permits to remodel an existing home in the Rustic Canyon area of Pacific Palisades. When applying for those permits, plaintiffs erroneously calculated the required front yard setback. As a result, they obtained approval to construct an addition to their house, now completed, that is 14 feet closer to the street than permitted by the governing sections of the Los Angeles Municipal Code. The invalid building permits and the nonconforming house built pursuant to those permits have been the subject of litigation for the past 12 years. In 2003, a writ of mandate was issued requiring the City to revoke the permits. The writ was affirmed by Division One of this court in Horwitz v. City of Angeles (2004) 124 Cal.App.4th 1344 (Horwitz I). The City subsequently reissued the revoked permits, resulting in an order to enforce the writ. We affirmed that order in a nonpublished opinion. (Horwitz v. City of Los Angeles (Apr. 2, 2009, B204545) (Horwitz II).) The facts concerning the issuance and revocation of the permits are set forth in Horwitz I and Horwitz II. We restate the relevant facts as necessary.…