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By Jorge Casuso

January 28, 2022 -- A Superior Court judge on Friday dealt a major blow to a group of Downtown property owners seeking to stop the demolition of Parking Structure 3.In a tentative ruling, Judge Mitchell L Beckloff granted the City its motion to dismiss the case because the plaintiffs -- the Santa Monica Bayside Owners Association's (SMBOA) -- failed to meet a filing deadline.

Under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), a petitioner "shall request a hearing within 90 days from the date of filing the petition or shall be subject to dismissal.”

The Bayside Owners Association missed the deadline by 22 days, the court noted.

"The facts here are undisputed," Beckloff wrote in his ruling. "There is no question more than 90 days had elapsed since Petitioner initiated the action when the City brought its motion to dismiss."

The plaintiff argued that "for all practical purposes, the court’s notice of a trial setting conference and Petitioner’s service of same eliminated the need for the technical hearing request," Beckloff wrote, calling the argument "not persuasive."

"First, Petitioner did not initiate the trial setting conference notice," Beckloff wrote. "Moreover, there is no evidence any other party to the action received notice of the trial setting conference until after the 90-day date."

Ellia Thompson, an attorney for the Association, said she was responsible for the mistake, which took place while she was working without a secretary during the coronavirus pandemic, according to a report by the Courthouse News Service.

"In my 17 years of practice, I have never made such a mistake," Thompson said at the hearing, according to the report. "I have struggled during Covid to stay on top of everything.

"I find it difficult to handle my cases," Thompson said. "This requirement to file for a trial-setting conference, it slipped through the cracks."

Beckloff didn't buy the excuse. "The court finds that the evidence (or lack thereof) is entirely inadequate to show excusable inadvertence," he wrote.

"The mere recital of mistake, inadvertence, surprise or excusable neglect is not sufficient to warrant relief."

The tentative ruling, which must be finalized in order to take effect, comes two weeks after Beckloff granted the Bayside Owners Association's request for a preliminary injunction halting the structure's demolition ("Judge Grants Preliminary Injunction Halting Parking Structure Demolition," January 13, 2022).

In Friday's ruling, Beckloff wrote that "the preliminary injunction is no longer in effect."

The City plans to demolish the parking structure -- which was built in 1966 and needs extensive retrofitting -- and replace it with an affordable housing project.