After more than 2 1/2 years of legal squabbling, a Santa Barbara County Superior Court judge has decided Los Olivos business owner Steve Pappas must pay 3rd District Supervisor Doreen Farr’s $700,000 worth of legal fees.
Pappas first took Farr, his opponent for the county’s swing seat, to court in 2008. The former Los Olivos School District Board trustee claimed mistakes in the voter registration process caused him to lose his bid to replace then-supervisor Brooks Firestone. At the heart of Pappas’ lawsuit against Farr was the allegation that volunteers collecting voter registration cards in the South County failed to submit them in the required amount of time.
Since he lost the election in 2008, Pappas maintained a steady stream of correspondence with the press in which he lamented Farr’s victory as illegitimate. In numerous press releases, Pappas contended Farr was “not entitled” to attorney fees and that members of the supervisor’s campaign effort committed voter fraud.
In 2010, a state appeals court ruled Farr wouldn’t have to pay attorney fees—approximately $300,000 at the time—accrued during the legal dispute. The court handed the case over to the original trial court to specify the exact monetary amount, which Judge Colleen Sterne later determined to be $700,000.
“Obviously, I’m very pleased and relieved [by the ruling],” Farr told the Sun in a recent interview. “My attorneys have worked hard and stuck with me this whole time.”
Farr said she didn’t know if her opponent planned to appeal the ruling again, and Pappas’ attorney didn’t return calls as of press time.
“I hope that they won’t pursue it so we can all just move forward,” she said. “I think I’ve done the best I could to separate [the lawsuit] from my work as 3rd district supervisor.
“Mr. Pappas’ claims had more to do with state election law, which is rather archaic … and with the County Election Office and staff than they did with me,” she added.
This article appears in Aug 25 – Sep 1, 2011.
