Baldwin Park : Suit Filed Over Hotel

Contending that they received bad legal advice on a hotel deal, the city and its redevelopment agency have filed a legal malpractice lawsuit for more than $3.6 million against former City Atty. Robert Flandrick and two law firms.

Originally the Baldwin Park Hilton and now the San Gabriel Valley Hilton, the 196-room hotel was built after the city agreed to underwrite losses and share in profits. City officials backed out of the deal in December after reporting that the hotel had lost more than $2.5 million.

The lawsuit, filed last week in Pomona Superior Court, said the operating deficits and other expenses incurred by the city total $3,689,854.

The complaint contends that the city’s method of funding the hotel project was illegal and that Flandrick and other former legal advisers were negligent in failing to advise against it.

The suit names Flandrick and his firm, Burke Williams & Sorensen of Los Angeles, and Greenberg, Glusker, Fields, Claman & Machtinger of Century City. Flandrick said he could not comment on the lawsuit because he had not seen it.