Residents press West Covina council over years-long litigation; council reports no reportable closed-session action

The West Covina City Council reported that it had met in closed session on April 15 to discuss multiple litigation matters, including City of West Covina v. Haassen Imports Partnership (Los Angeles Superior Court case no. KC048157) and two related bankruptcy proceedings. The city attorney told the council the session covered the current status, upcoming motions and potential settlement strategies and that no reportable action was taken.

Following the closed session, several residents addressed the council during oral communications, urging transparency and criticizing the length and cost of litigation involving parties the speakers identified as Alhassen/Haassen and the law firm Squire Sanders. Lloyd Johnson and Elsie Messman said they believed contracts and approvals in prior years were invalid or improperly executed and claimed the city's legal costs had grown from an initial claim in the low hundreds of thousands to "over $12 million" or "almost $13 million," as described by speakers. Those dollar amounts were assertions made by speakers and were not presented as an official city accounting during the meeting.

Speaker Herb Bridal asked the council not to "rush to judgment" on the city manager but repeated concern over the city attorney and counsel selection. Multiple speakers urged the council to release nonprivileged documents related to the litigation so the public could judge the decisions and legal strategy.

The city attorney confirmed the council had received a status update from special counsel and discussed settlement strategies but said there was no reportable action to disclose after the closed session.

What was reported

- Closed session topics: litigation concerning City of West Covina v. Haassen Imports Partnership (Los Angeles Superior Court case no. KC048157) and two bankruptcy matters involving the same parties. - City attorney statement: council received status reports and discussed motions and settlement strategies; "no reportable action" was taken.

Public comments summarized

Speakers raised questions about contract validity, the role of outside counsel (identified by speakers as Squire Sanders or "Esquire Sanders"), cumulative legal bills they said had grown into the millions, and a request that the council make non-confidential documents available to the public. Speakers requested an accounting of who authorized fees and why litigation continued.

No new litigation decisions were announced by the council at the meeting.