Justice delayed due to faulty machinery, mechanical — bureaucratic
Chelsea Cody
OurLA.org Writer
“There will be no more continuances. This is the last one.” said Commissioner Thomas Grodin before dismissing Nasir Shaikh, his new attorney Monica Romallo and ex-wife Nadya Mahdavi’s counsel Gerald Cobb from the courtroom to discuss a settlement plan with Deputy City Attorney Donald Cocek.
After a long day of delayed hearings due to malfunctioning public elevators at the Van Nuys courthouse, Commissioner Grodin was short on patience.
The court waited for over an hour and a half for Shaikh to appear and Mahdavi was not present as her attorney advised her that her appearance would not be necessary.
Grudgingly granting a continuance, Grodin said all parties involved had better come to some kind of settlement or be prepared to go to trial come July 14.
More than a year of delays and difficulties has prolonged the case of the People of Los Angeles vs. Shaikh and Mahdavi. Pleas of poverty, denials of ownership and failure to appear before the court (with or without an attorney) have postponed any final decision. Yesterday it was malfunctioning machinery.
Resolving the illegal conversion of a single-family home into a three-apartment tenement on 19953 Haynes St. in Woodland Hills has dragged on since the beginning of 2008 only to be delayed – one hopes – one last time.
That is, if the city can keep the elevators working.
