Editor's Note: This story first ran on Friday, July 8, 2011.
An east valley olive farm's lawsuit against hot-air balloonists will stay in the Coachella Valley, and parties to the case can continue to talk openly about it, a Riverside County judge ruled Thursday.
Superior Court Judge Randall D. White denied JCM Farming Inc.'s requests for a gag order and a venue change in its lawsuit against local balloonists.
JCM attorney Andrew Rauch had sought an order barring attorneys for the balloonists from speaking to the public and press, citing a “stated desire to vilify us in the media” and a “direct and intentional effort to try this case in the press.”
Rauch had previously cited comments on The Desert Sun's website that were critical of JCM. Its lawsuit indicated a threat “to the personal safety of the employees and their families of JCM Farming.”
White on Thursday said he had no power to control the conduct and speech of attorneys outside of his courtroom “unless there are extreme measures that have occurred.”
“We don't have that in this case,” he said.
For more than two years, JCM has been suing balloon-tour companies, cropdusters and even government agencies over what it claims are low flights over its compound that violate its privacy and present a safety hazard.
The litigation had a chilling effect on the balloon business, which once thrived in the east valley but was effectively shut down by the prohibitive cost of fighting the JCM lawsuits.
After a series of stories about the dispute was published in The Desert Sun in January, valley residents began rallying to support the balloonists, raising money and flooding the newspaper with supportive letters and comments.
Attorney Robert Gilliland Jr., representing some of the balloonists, denied that he had done anything wrong by making comments on behalf of his clients.
“Mr. Rauch's clients don't like me because we've been pushing back and not allowing them to steamroll our clients,” he said.
White also rejected a motion by Rauch to move the court case. In court, Rauch suggested moving the trial to downtown Riverside.
“It takes away the incentive to vilify JCM Farming in the press here,” he said, adding that the venue change would be “a benefit to the balloonists,” because one of the two companies that remain in the case is from Temecula.
Gilliland said Rauch was “attempting to do forum-shopping.”
“It's a meat-ax approach,” Gilliland said. “It's clear we can empanel a jury of 12 in this valley who can impartially hear this case.”
JCM sued 15 local balloonists or balloon companies, and a pest-control flight operator for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, alleging they create a nuisance, invade privacy and pose a safety hazard by flying too low over JCM's 80-acre farm off Avenue 54 between Monroe and Jackson streets in an unincorporated area south of Indio near the Vista Santa Rosa community.
Thirteen of the balloonists have either gone out of business, had default judgments entered against them, or agreed to JCM's demands that they stop flying in the area.
Only Palm Desert balloonists Cynthia and Steven Wilkinson and their Fantasy Balloon Flights, and Magical Adventure Balloon Rides of Temecula and its owner, Shiho Seki, remain as defendants.
JCM has also sued the Federal Aviation Administration and U.S. Department of Agriculture in federal court related to the alleged low flights over its property.
The farm is owned by John C. and Carol Marrelli and their daughter, Marilena Marrelli, all of Solana Beach.
Privacy is a priority at the farm, which features 24-foot-high, 4-foot-thick security walls with windowed towers at the corners; and an electronic security gate with signs warning that trespassers will meet “armed response, guard dogs and no exit.”
Despite its aversion to flights by balloonists, JCM last year sought approval from Riverside County planners for its own private helipad with multiple helicopter flights into and out of its property.
Rauch declined to comment after Thursday's hearing.
After the hearing, Gilliland noted that JCM hired its own public relations representative, Nancy Conrad, and started a Facebook page, which showed a desire on JCM's part to communicate with the public outside of court.
The next hearing in the lawsuit is scheduled for July 29, when White will consider a motion by Rauch to prevent Gilliland from conducting an inspection of the farm.
“We want to ascertain specifically where they are maintaining a site intrusion and nuisance are taking place,” Gilliland said. “It's clearly within our rights of discovery.”
Keith Matheny is an investigative reporter for The Desert Sun. He can be reached at keith.matheny@thedesertsun.com or (760) 778-4693. Follow on Twitter @keithmatheny
