Judge Hands Down One Ruling in Nicolas Cage Suit Over Venice House

A judge issued one legal victory Thursday to the former business manager for actor Nicolas Cage in a home-defect lawsuit and said he wants to ponder a second issue of whether the actor should have to pay a portion of the legal bills of his ex-numbers cruncher.

The underlying suit brought on behalf of filmmaker Bradley Lindsley by his family trust alleges Cage sold him a $3 million home in the Venice area of Los Angeles without disclosing that it had water drainage problems. Lindsely also goes by the name Bradford Lindsley Schiel.

The Lindsley family trust originally sued the developer, the Lee Group, in May 2009. It later added Cage -- whose well-publicized real estate woes include sales of some of his other homes at drastically reduced prices -- as a defendant, as well as his former business manager, Samuel Levin, and general contractor Richard Nazarian.

The suit alleges Cage, Levin and Nazarian did not disclose problems with the home.

Levin filed a cross-complaint against Cage in February 2011. He contends the Oscar-winning Leaving Las Vegas star is bound by an agreement to pay for his legal fees and cover any financial losses he may suffer if sued in connection with his role as a co-trustee of the Hancock Park Real Estate Trust, a legal mechanism through which Cage holds title to property.

Levin resigned from his co-trustee role in 2009. He asked for a judicial finding that he is entitled to be paid by Cage for his legal expenses in fighting the Lindsley suit as of Dec. 3, 2010, when he made his request to the actor for compensation.

In his tentative written ruling Wednesday, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Rolf M. Treu said he is leaning toward granting Levin's motion. However, Treu said after hearing arguments Thursday, Treu that he wants to ponder the issue further.

Attorney Paul Sorrell, on behalf of Cage, said Levin should have to pay his own attorneys' fees because Lindsley is suing him based on his action as the actor's business manager at the time, not as a Hancock Park trustee.

Treu finalized his preliminary ruling denying Nazarian's motion to toss Levin's cross-complaint against him. Levin hired Nazarian to look for leaks and other problems in the home and says he was sued by Lindsley because of the general contractor's poor job.

“My understanding from my communications with Mr. Nazarian was that all of the problems with the property had been resolved,'' Levin stated in a sworn declaration.

Levin wants to be compensated in part by Nazarian if he is found liable to pay damages to Lindsley. In his ruling, Treu referred to the Lindsley family trust's allegation that Nazarian wrote a letter stating that flooding and drainage problems would not occur at the home.

“This is sufficient to raise triable issues of fact as to whether Nazarian owed a duty of disclosure ...,'' Treu wrote.

The judge urged the parties to consider settling the case, noting that another home defect case -- in which New Jack City co-star Mario Van Peebles is a defendant -- is being played out in a lengthy non-jury trial just down the hallway from Treu's courtroom.

Cage, 49, bought one of two single-family homes the Lee Group built adjacent to each other on Ocean Front Walk in November 2002, according to the complaint.

Other cross-complaints have been filed for and against various sub- contractors who worked on the home.

Lindsley alleges that some time after Cage moved into the home, the actor and his neighbor in the other Lee Group residence had problems with flooding and informed the developers.

But when Lindsley bought the house from Cage in May 2003, the actor did not tell him about the defects, according to the complaint.

When another man expressed interest in the property before Lindsley did and found out about the drainage problems, he canceled escrow, according to the suit.