$350,000 Ends Muffler Shop Battle : Lawsuit: Jake Egan accepts a settlement that ends nine years of trying to keep Torrance from seizing his property by eminent domain. A judge had ruled against him.
Walter J. (Jake) Egan, a scrappy muffler shop owner who has fought a nine-year legal battle to keep the city of Torrance from taking his property, applied the brakes Wednesday, accepting a $350,000 payment to clear out within 30 days.
Egan’s decision followed a two-week trial before a Los Angeles Superior Court judge, who ruled Tuesday that the city has a right to take the muffler shop under eminent domain. A jury trial to decide how much the city should pay Egan was scheduled to begin Wednesday.
The settlement ends a battle between Egan and Torrance that began in 1983 when the city declared Egan’s 3,500-square-foot Aable Muffler Shop part of a blighted area and included it in its downtown redevelopment plans.
Of 42 small businesses slated for demolition in the city’s 101-acre redevelopment area, only Egan sued the city. Irritated that Egan could tie up plans to build Honda’s North American headquarters, officials agreed to exempt his land and paid his lawyers $27,000.
As Honda’s modern, glass-front offices rose behind the little red, white and blue muffler shop on Van Ness Avenue and Torrance Boulevard, residents jokingly called Egan’s shop “The Wart on Honda North America’s Face.”
At the time, spokesmen for Honda said the firm did not care whether Egan stayed or went. The company declined comment Wednesday.
Then, in 1987, the city announced plans to widen and straighten Torrance Boulevard, in part by taking 18 feet off the front of Egan’s land. The slice crosses a point where two of his outdoor hydraulic repair racks stand. The city offered $87,000, but Egan wanted $1.8 million.
Again, Egan filed suit, this time for fraud.
Usually effusive in his commentary on the case, Egan was brief on Wednesday.
“I can’t comment,” he said gruffly. “They have a gag order on me.”
Egan’s attorney, Christopher Sutton, explained that a confidentiality order included in the settlement specifically bars anyone involved in the case from speaking to the press about the details of the settlement.
But City Atty. Kenneth Nelson said the agreement was only intended to prevent both sides “from bad-mouthing each other.”
“I hate the term ‘gag order,’ ” Nelson said. “The general idea is that we’ll let bygones be bygones.”
Later in the day, Egan briefly discussed his plans to move his 28-year-old business elsewhere but said he will not know whether he can afford to do so until he tallies his legal bills and outstanding loans on the property.
“Let’s just say they’re substantial,” he said.
The fight has not been cheap for Torrance either. Nelson estimated that the city spent $203,000 fighting the case before the trial began two weeks ago and has since spent about $50,000 more in court costs.
Under the settlement, the city also must pay $65,000 to a man who had been renting space from Egan to conduct a smog-testing business.
Nevertheless, Nelson said, Wednesday’s settlement is a good one.
“I’m very pleased,” he said. “I wish him the very best, and now we’ll get on with our street straightening.”
