ROXBOROUGH, POMERANCE, NYE AND ADREANI, LLP FILES LAWSUIT AGAINST THE LOS ANGELES CITY COUNCIL ON BEHALF OF READY GOLF

Lawsuit Raises Question To Los Angeles’ Policies Governing City Contractors

(Los Angeles, CA) – 30 November 2010—The law firm of Roxborough, Pomerance, Nye and Adreani, LLP (RPNA) filed a lawsuit yesterday against the Los Angeles City Council, City of Los Angeles, and Board of Recreation and Park Commissioners, seeking a writ of mandate to compel the Defendants to award Ready Golf Centers (Ready Golf) the golf cart concession at Los Angeles’ public golf courses.

Ready Golf was denied the contract after its “request for proposal” (RFP) was approved by an independent, five-member panel followed by a unanimous recommendation by the Recreation and Park Board and unanimous approval by the City Administrative Officer (CAO), the chief financial advisor to the Mayor and Council. The CAO conducts studies and investigations, makes recommendations on City management matters, assists in the preparation of the City budget, and directs the administration of the budget.

Voting against the CAO’s recommendation and approval of Ready Golf, the City Council awarded the contract instead to Kishi Corporation, the City’s current golf cart concession operator that had lost to Ready Golf at every stage of the RFP process.

“While Ready Golf is the victim here, the real losers are those who try to do business legitimately with the City and Los Angeles citizens, whose interests are pushed aside in favor of politics,” says Drew Pomerance, RPNA partner and counsel for Ready Golf. “Ready Golf seeks by virtue of this lawsuit a writ of mandate requiring the City Council to award it the contract since it prevailed throughout the RFP process.”

Pomerance notes that Kishi is represented by Lobbyist Michael Yamaki, a Los Angeles political insider who previously served on the Board of Police Commissioners and is currently a special advisor to Sheriff Lee Baca. Yamaki also is President of Riviera Country Club.

“I am at a complete loss over the City Council’s decision, particularly after we won every stage of a detailed evaluation that was thorough, transparent, and completely objective,” explains Michael Bernback, President of Ready Golf Centers, which runs the driving range and pro shop at the Sepulveda Golf Complex. “Knowing the City then awarded the contract to an operator that repeatedly failed the same criterion of the evaluation should make us all question the integrity of our city government and its ability to provide legitimate, dependable services for its citizens.”

At the same time the City was awarding a multi-million dollar five year contract to Kishi, the City of Los Angeles was in the midst of conducting an audit of Kishi, which ultimately determined that Kishi had poor internal accounting controls after discovering it shorted the City thousands of dollars in revenue during the time period of the audit.

Despite the results of this audit and study establishing Ready Golf as a superior golf concession operator, the City still ignored the multiple recommendations and approvals, and ultimately awarded the concession contract to itself, as a self operator of the concession.

“We hope this lawsuit will help ensure the City complies with its own mandate to protect the public’s interests by ensuring the policies and procedures governing city contractor selection are rigorously and equitably enforced,” concludes Pomerance.

Roxborough, Pomerance, Nye and Adreani LLP (RPNA) is a Los Angeles-based law firm providing expert legal counsel and representation to the California business community. Established in 1995, the firm offers a broad range of legal services in all facets of civil litigation, with its primary focus on litigation, legislation and policymaking issues involving insurance and business related concerns.

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