TUESDAY, APRIL 6, 1999

Zagustin's home goes up for sale

By Sharon Christensen

On-Line Forty-Niner

Spacious Huntington Harbour home for sale. Classic fixer-upper. Quiet neighborhood. Available for $300,000.

While Cal State Long Beach students enjoyed spring break last week, CSULB engineering professor Elena Zagustin has been busy fighting the foreclosure of her home.

Three hearings regarding the foreclosure on the home have taken place within the last two weeks, resulting in no postponements of the forced sale date set for April 22.

"To date we've been very successful in boxing her in a corner," said Tom McCurnin, an attorney for Zagutin's neighbors. "But there won't be any celebrations until the deal's done."

The hearings, held in Orange County Superior Court in Santa Ana, involved three motions, filed by Zagustin, each involving previous court action, according to McCurnin.

The first hearing, held on March 25 in the courtroom of Judge Ronald Bauer, was regarding a 1994 lawsuit filed by attorneys representing more than 20 of Zagustin's neighbors, said Brian Simon, a Los Angeles attorney also representing the neighbors.

Each neighbor had individually received a monetary judgment in Small Claims Court against Zagustin, Simon said. The neighbors had been unable to collect on these judgments because Zagustin - on paid sabbatical until October from CSULB - had transferred her assets into "fraudulent trusts," he said.

Attorneys then filed a fraudulent conveyance lawsuit, claiming the trusts were false and the judgments should be reinstated and the court agreed, Simon said.

Zagustin's March 25 motion claimed the ruling supporting these claims violated her civil rights, said McCurnin, who has represented the neighbors for a year and a half.

Judge Bauer denied the motion.

One week later, Zagustin again stood in Bauer's courtroom, this time with two motions to address. The first motion was regarding a judgment for which she had not been present, said McCurnin, who was at the hearing.

Bauer again denied her motion saying that the motion was filed too late, past the six-month filing deadline following the judgment, McCurnin said.

The second motion was filed to stop the foreclosure and sale of the residence based on Zagustin's recent bankruptcy filing and the automatic stay on collections granted under the terms of Chapter 13 bankruptcy, according to McCurnin.

Superior Court Judge Ted Millard ordered the foreclosure and sale of Zagustin's property to pay the civil judgment to the neighbors on Jan. 28. Four days later, Feb. 1, Zagustin filed for bankruptcy, effectively stopping all collections, according to Stan Demaree, a supervisor of case administration with Federal Bankruptcy Court in Santa Ana.

Simon, Huntington Beach City Attorney Gayle Hutton, and two other attorneys submitted an order to Judge Lynne Riddle's Federal Bankruptcy Court to lift the stay on collections.

"The motion was on the grounds that she was abusing the system," Simon said.

Barring further action by Zagustin, the sale remains set for April 22 at 10 a.m. at the Westminster Courthouse Marshall's office.

"She can still pay the money, but I think she would rather commit suicide than pay us a penny," McCurnin said.

"I haven't received any information [about the sale]," said Zagustin, who would not respond to the rulings on her motions. "He [McCurnin] refused to tell me anything."

Zagustin did add that she has filed a federal civil rights suit, naming the city of Huntington Beach, the City Attorney's Office, McCurnin and many other individuals as defendants.

A block party is being planned for the weekend following the sale of Zagustin's home by the neighbors, McCurnin said.

"They [the neighbors] are very pleased that the process has evolved this far," McCurnin said. "We do intend to have a party."