The real turf surf owners: Southern California city takes its beach back after legal battle over ‘surf gang’

Palos Verdes Estates is home to picturesque beaches and multi-million residences. It’s also home to one of the most unusual legal battles — one that involves surf gangs, land disputes and rock forts.

And a city accused of being complicit in all of it.

For the last eight years, the idyllic town of Palos Verdes Estates outside of Long Beach has been at the center of a lawsuit where two surfers claimed a rival surfer gang had taken over iconic surfing spot Lunada Bay and blocked the public from riding the waves.

In 2016, surfers Diana Miernik and Cory Spencer sued Palos Verdes Estates and 15 people who they claimed were members of the gang “Lunada Bay Boys.” Miernik and Spencer claimed the “Lunada Bay Boys” harassed outsiders who tried to surf there and built illegal, unpermitted developments on the beach, including a “rock fort.”

The surfers further stated the city violated California’s Coastal Act by conspiring with the “Lunada Bay Boys” to keep outsiders away from the area. The city has maintained it is committed to upholding the law, which ensures the public can access the state’s coast.

The case was finally resolved in September when the city settled with Miernik and Spencer. Residents have concerns about the deal, but are happy the fight is over.

Now, a sign will soon sit near the beach letting know anyone can use it - not just one “surf gang.”

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Both Miernik and Spencer testified in August after years of back-and-forth in the case.

Miernik told the court she visited Lunada Bay several times in early 2016. There, she was harassed by alleged members of the “Bay Boys,” she testified.

On her first visit, Miernik testified that men on the beach shouted at her, Courthouse News reports. Miernik told the court that one man shouted, “Watch out, you’re going to cut your pretty little face on the rocks.” She said another man approached her and shouted, “Whore.”

“I was absolutely terrified,” Miernik told the court. “No one had ever spoken to me like that, anywhere.”

Miernik also highlighted her fourth visit to the bay, Courthouse News reports. She testified that one of the defendants, Brant Blakeman, began filming her, while Alan Johnston made sexual comments.

Miernik, who was featured in a Los Angeles Times photograph, testified that Johnston told her he “touched himself” while viewing her photo.

“Johnston said that he actually touched himself while looking at the L.A. Times… [he was] suggesting that he masturbated to me,” she testified, according to Courthouse News. “I wasn’t sure if they were going to rape me. He was mimicking sounds of an orgasm.”

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Miernik then said Johnston began changing and exposed himself to her.

“I got out of there,” Miernik said. “I contacted the police. Everything — it’s really hard for me to talk about it. It caused me so much stress and trauma.”

Blakeman has since settled with the defendants, his attorney Robert Cooper told The Independent. Blakeman agreed to stay away from Lunada Bay for a set period as part of the agreement, which has long since expired, Cooper said.

Meanwhile, Johnston did not settle and is being dismissed from the case, his attorney Harry Safarian said.

“The claims against Mr. Johnston were proven to be without merit,” Safarian said in a statement to The Independent.

“What [Miernik] represented to the press over the years (and in the case) was vastly different than what the video of the alleged incident showed,” he added. “Ms. Miernik was impeached at trial repeatedly from the video evidence and by her own deposition testimony.”

“It is no accident that after eight years of aggressive litigation, these individual plaintiffs walk away emptyhanded with respect to their claims against Mr. Johnston.”

Attorney Kurt Franklin, who represents Miernik and Spencer, told The Independent that his clients “very much disagree with Mr. Johnston’s attorney” and Miernik stands by her testimony.

“And, if in the future Defendant Johnston or others bully people at Lunada Bay – or support others that do – Plaintiffs have confidence that their new partnership with the City will stop him,” Franklin told The Independent.

Spencer, an ex-cop, also testified that he experienced hostility and even violence from the defendants in 2016, Courthouse News reports.

The ex-cop told the court when he arrived at Lunada Bay eight years ago, some of the defendants asked, “What the f*** are you doing here?” and, “Why do you come to surf here?”

When Spencer got in the water, he told the court that a man surfing near him steered his board at him while he was paddling away, according to Courthouse News. Spencer said he had to roll off his board to protect himself, and the back of his wrist got cut by the other man’s board.

Spencer also testified that he did not ask police to arrest the surfer or file a criminal complaint.

Thirteen of the 15 defendants settled with Miernik and Spencer, according to Franklin. Some agreed to stay away from the beach for a given period while others have agreed to pay fees. One defendant chose to do both in their settlement agreement, Franklin said.

“[Miernik and Spencers’] goal in this case has always been to help solve the localism problem at Lunada Bay, and to improve access to it – full stop, period,” Franklin said.

“With the new consent-decree partnership with the City, [Miernik and Spencer] achieved their goal,” he added “They’re pleased.”

The city settled with Miernik and Spencer last month, finally putting the legal battle to rest.

Among other actions, the city will add stone benches to the bay, improve existing pathways and add signs that indicate the bay is accessible to everyone, according to the settlement. The city must also pay between $1 million and $4 million toward Miernik and Spencers’ legal fees, the Los Angeles Times stated.

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“The City was facing an existential financial risk if the case ultimately had gone against the City,” Palos Verdes Estate’s attorney Christopher Pisano said in a statement. “This settlement achieves certainty, taking the risk of tens of millions of dollars in liability off the table and avoiding the high costs of continued litigation.”

But Palos Verdes Estates Mayor Dawn Murdock said residents have mixed feelings about the improvements. While some are happy the matter is resolved, others are concerned about the resources and changes to the bay’s natural landscape.

“People are frustrated that the city is going to need to make some meaningful changes, and we’re going to need to apply resources over the next five or 10 years in order to execute and monitor the terms of the settlement,” Murdock told The Independent.

“The fact that now we’re going to do some landscaping has some people frustrated about that,” she added. “That’s why the city’s commitment is that we are going to maintain that natural look and feel, and that’s why we talk about rock seating instead of big, massive concrete benches like you might see in other cities.”

Residents are especially frustrated that this case and the subsequent media attention has painted their small coastal town as uninviting.

“I just want to reinforce that we aren’t this unwelcoming, privileged, bullying, harassing community that a lot of the surf-type magazines make us out to be,” Murdock said.

“Residents here are very warm, very welcoming,” she added. “There’s lots of space for people to enjoy, and we can tell that they’re out there enjoying it by the amounts of trash that we have to pick up.”