HUNTINGTON BEACH : Developer Sues Former City Official

Griffin/Related Properties, a Santa Ana development company, has filed suit in Superior Court alleging that former Huntington Beach City Administrator Paul Cook and the city government dealt in bad faith with the company on proposed downtown redevelopment.

The company is asking for an unspecified amount of money as reimbursement for “substantive expenditures of resources and capital,” according to Roger Torriero, president of Griffin/Related Properties. He said the company also “seeks to recover all damages, including lost profits incurred as a result of the city’s failure to allow Griffin to proceed with its development plan.”

In the suit, the development firm claims that Cook at first encouraged Griffin/Related Properties to be among the developers in the downtown area but then became “uncooperative.”

The suit, which is being handled by the Irvine law firm Jones, Day, Reavis & Pogue, also accuses Cook and Huntington Beach’s Redevelopment Agency of persuading Griffin/Related Properties to yield its options on downtown property.

Cook retired as city administrator last year and is now a consultant. Contacted on Thursday, Cook said: “I don’t know why they’re suing me. I helped them as much as I could help them. . . . We tried the best we could.”