The Leak Took Awhile
His client, Culver City Officer Heidi Keyantash, is seeking unspecified millions from Mr. Vera for his alleged actions stemming from an incident on Aug. 7, 2004, when Culver City Police stopped his son, Albert Vera Jr., for a vehicle registration that was five years late. City Hall also is named in the complaint, but the high-profile Mr. Vera is regarded as the primary target. Ms. Keyantash alleges that Mr. Vera, then a third-term City Councilman, threatened her with the power of his political office. “I’ll get you, I promise, I’ll get you,” the Councilman allegedly told the police officer. When word of the family encounter with police finally leaked nearly a month later, Mr. Vera, who often portrayed himself as Culver City’s champion defender of the Police Dept., fired explosive language at the cops. He suggested police planted drugs on his son. “It was a setup,” he said. He also declared that stopping Albert Jr. may have been a revenge action by certain persons within the Police Dept. Weeks later, he sent a letter of apology to the Police Dept. for his harsh statements. But this newspaper learned that Mr. Vera did not write the apology, that it was crafted by a person very close to him. Mr. Vera merely signed the document. Mr. Goldberg has filed a motion in Los Angeles Superior Court to force Mr. Vera to respond to the 12 questions more fully than answering “unknown.” The attorney also is seeking $3,190 in sanctions to cover the cost of his time to bring the motion to the court’s attention. The court hearing, originally scheduled for Thursday, was postponed until July 26. On that date, Mr. Goldberg expects the court to schedule the case for trial.
Settlement Was Anticipated
When the seven-charge case — including discriminatory behavior and harassment — was filed last Aug. 19, all of the principals in the case indicated they expected its denouement to arrive quietly in a backroom settlement. Not a good guess, it appears. The City Council has hashed over the thorny case on recent Monday nights in pre-meeting closed sessions. Their feelings and their reasoning about their longtime colleague, with whom all of them tangled at times, is complicated. Sources say some Council members have been conflicted by the perception that in later years Mr. Vera regressed from the lofty status of a hallowed, untouchable idol to possibly the most polarizing personality in town. The City Council, to the consternation of its members, was purposely kept in the dark about the spectacular scene for as long as the public was. Mr. Vera never uttered a word about it, sources said, and neither did his good friend John Montanio, who became Police Chief through Mr. Vera’s strategizing.
What Surprise?
Given the present context, Mr. Goldberg was asked if he expected the case to reach this post-mediation stage. “I am not surprised,” he said. “Generally, I don’t expect the (defendant)will pay fair value on the claim in the absence of a trial. They always are looking for a discount.” Ms. Keyantash’s lawyer said he was “not surprised” that a trial apparently looms. All along, Mr. Vera and his lawyer, Greg Hill, are believed to have been strongly committed to circumventing a trial. Mr. Goldberg said the longer the case breathes, the better off his client is. “As the case proceeds closer to trial,” he said, “the longer the delay, the longer that justice is denied.”
Prominent but Reticent
Sometimes referred to as the No.1 citizen of Culver City, Mr. Vera, 72 years old, has been an almost obsessively private person throughout his career. Jovial and accessible on the outside, the personal picture would blur, then fade upon closer examination. Throughout the last four decades as the owner of the most successful ethnic market in the region, a holder of vast ranges of properties, all energized by a political career bordering on the flamboyant, Mr. Vera has managed to shield even glimpses of his personal life from public view. For years, the lone newspaper in the community printed only favorable information about him and his family. As he grew increasingly outspoken during his three four-year terms on the City Council, community loyalty, as a corollary, began to shrink. By the time he left office last April on a highly uncertain note that had changed several times during the winter and early spring, some followers changed their minds about him. They said he had diminished. Now, they said, he was a person more to be pitied than scorned for statements made or positions taken. Following a rash of skirmishes with the law by family members close to him, Mr. Vera — widely seen as an avuncular figure — found himself in a vat of boiling trouble. Although his actions were written off by the County District Attorney’s office as typical for a father, at least one more act remains to be played out. Only then can the final score be posted for a brief, ugly and lingering incident that occurred two summers ago.