Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Law park

— Contrary to common wisdom, the arrival of new Padres honcho Robert J. Vizas portends more litigation -- not less -- for the long-troubled baseball team and its investors, both public and hidden. Vizas, a high-pressure corporate lawyer from the San Francisco Bay Area, has a lot more experience in the courtroom than in a ballpark. He first showed up on the radar here in September 1999, when he was named vice president/general counsel for the team at the same time ex-city manager Jack McGrory came aboard as the Padres' vice president/chief operating officer. Then last year Vizas sued the port district on behalf of JMI Realty, a development outfit run by Padres owner John Moores, for breach of contract in his stalled bayfront-hotel deal. In addition, Vizas represented the team in a case against Lloyds of London filed last August, alleging that the insurer welshed on a claim involving lefthander Randy Myers and his rotator-cuff injury. Vizas is also senior trial counsel for Legal Strategies Group of Emeryville, California, just north of Berkeley. Vizas "acts as lead counsel to Levi Strauss & Co., Raychem Corporation, and a select group of other clients," according to the firm's website. "As a litigator, he has tried a number of significant cases with an outstanding success rate. Mr. Vizas' particular areas of expertise are antitrust, intellectual property, commercial business disputes, and pre-litigation counseling." One bitterly fought trial he was on the wrong side of was a 1998 civil fraud and antitrust case against Raychem, in which a Los Angeles federal jury awarded $64 million to plaintiff Bourns, Inc. A judge subsequently threw out the verdict as excessive and ordered a new trial. But it is his connection to jeans-maker Levi Strauss that is most intriguing to longtime observers of the Padres' downtown-stadium saga. Before the surfacing of Vizas, San Diego's biggest connection to Levi Strauss was UCSD chancellor Robert Dynes and his wife Frances, daughter of San Francisco deal-maker F. Warren Hellman, who sits on Levi's board and owns a big chunk of the company. Dynes has lent his considerable prestige to the Padres' stadium cause and has a seat on the board of Leap Wireless with Padres owner Moores. And last year it was revealed that Hellman and Moores are partners in Blackbaud, a South Carolina software maker. With the ballpark plagued by cost overruns, negotiations between the city and the Padres over how much more tax money the city will ante up are crucial to the project; two subcontractors have already sued Moores-related firms for unpaid construction bills, and more filings are expected. Sources say the Padres, whose ownership structure has never been disclosed, have privately threatened to sue the city if there are further delays. Vizas is expected to bring new legal muscle to the ongoing war.

Sponsored
Sponsored

Another Gary Condit Vice As the Gary Condit/ missing-intern scandal drags on, more San Diego links to the Modesto Democratic congressman are turning up. Latest local Condit connections include Vince H. Hall, ex-campaign aide to Governor Gray Davis, who arrived here last year and immediately began running to succeed termed-out Democratic assemblyman Howard Wayne. Federal records show that Hall gave $250 to Condit's congressional campaign back in December 1999. Condit is known to be a close friend of Davis and, until Chandra Levy disappeared, one of his most effective political connections among the state's mighty agricultural interests. Another local Condit donor is agribusiness consultant Bob L. Vice of Fallbrook, a former Pete Wilson appointee to the Del Mar Fair board and ex-president of the California Farm Bureau. Vice gave $1000 to Condit last October.

Ps and Qs First there was Bob Glaser, the hapless political consultant who sued the city after becoming embarrassed when women invaded the men's restroom at Qualcomm Stadium. Now comes Victor Kops, Ph.D., a San Diego "medical psychologist," who writes in this month's Psychology Today, "I have a fear of urinals." Kops goes on to proclaim, "There is something very intimidating about relieving oneself while standing next to another individual.... To make matters worse, half the male population doesn't wash its hands before leaving the restroom."

Contributor: Matt Potter

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Best Sports Betting Sites - 10 Online Sportsbooks Ranked for 2024

Best Sports Betting Sites (2024) - Reviews of TOP Online Sportsbooks
Next Article

SDSU pres gets highest pay raise in state over last 15 years

Union-Tribune still stiffing downtown San Diego landlord?

— Contrary to common wisdom, the arrival of new Padres honcho Robert J. Vizas portends more litigation -- not less -- for the long-troubled baseball team and its investors, both public and hidden. Vizas, a high-pressure corporate lawyer from the San Francisco Bay Area, has a lot more experience in the courtroom than in a ballpark. He first showed up on the radar here in September 1999, when he was named vice president/general counsel for the team at the same time ex-city manager Jack McGrory came aboard as the Padres' vice president/chief operating officer. Then last year Vizas sued the port district on behalf of JMI Realty, a development outfit run by Padres owner John Moores, for breach of contract in his stalled bayfront-hotel deal. In addition, Vizas represented the team in a case against Lloyds of London filed last August, alleging that the insurer welshed on a claim involving lefthander Randy Myers and his rotator-cuff injury. Vizas is also senior trial counsel for Legal Strategies Group of Emeryville, California, just north of Berkeley. Vizas "acts as lead counsel to Levi Strauss & Co., Raychem Corporation, and a select group of other clients," according to the firm's website. "As a litigator, he has tried a number of significant cases with an outstanding success rate. Mr. Vizas' particular areas of expertise are antitrust, intellectual property, commercial business disputes, and pre-litigation counseling." One bitterly fought trial he was on the wrong side of was a 1998 civil fraud and antitrust case against Raychem, in which a Los Angeles federal jury awarded $64 million to plaintiff Bourns, Inc. A judge subsequently threw out the verdict as excessive and ordered a new trial. But it is his connection to jeans-maker Levi Strauss that is most intriguing to longtime observers of the Padres' downtown-stadium saga. Before the surfacing of Vizas, San Diego's biggest connection to Levi Strauss was UCSD chancellor Robert Dynes and his wife Frances, daughter of San Francisco deal-maker F. Warren Hellman, who sits on Levi's board and owns a big chunk of the company. Dynes has lent his considerable prestige to the Padres' stadium cause and has a seat on the board of Leap Wireless with Padres owner Moores. And last year it was revealed that Hellman and Moores are partners in Blackbaud, a South Carolina software maker. With the ballpark plagued by cost overruns, negotiations between the city and the Padres over how much more tax money the city will ante up are crucial to the project; two subcontractors have already sued Moores-related firms for unpaid construction bills, and more filings are expected. Sources say the Padres, whose ownership structure has never been disclosed, have privately threatened to sue the city if there are further delays. Vizas is expected to bring new legal muscle to the ongoing war.

Sponsored
Sponsored

Another Gary Condit Vice As the Gary Condit/ missing-intern scandal drags on, more San Diego links to the Modesto Democratic congressman are turning up. Latest local Condit connections include Vince H. Hall, ex-campaign aide to Governor Gray Davis, who arrived here last year and immediately began running to succeed termed-out Democratic assemblyman Howard Wayne. Federal records show that Hall gave $250 to Condit's congressional campaign back in December 1999. Condit is known to be a close friend of Davis and, until Chandra Levy disappeared, one of his most effective political connections among the state's mighty agricultural interests. Another local Condit donor is agribusiness consultant Bob L. Vice of Fallbrook, a former Pete Wilson appointee to the Del Mar Fair board and ex-president of the California Farm Bureau. Vice gave $1000 to Condit last October.

Ps and Qs First there was Bob Glaser, the hapless political consultant who sued the city after becoming embarrassed when women invaded the men's restroom at Qualcomm Stadium. Now comes Victor Kops, Ph.D., a San Diego "medical psychologist," who writes in this month's Psychology Today, "I have a fear of urinals." Kops goes on to proclaim, "There is something very intimidating about relieving oneself while standing next to another individual.... To make matters worse, half the male population doesn't wash its hands before leaving the restroom."

Contributor: Matt Potter

Comments
Sponsored
Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

San Diego Reader 2024 Music & Arts Issue

Favorite fakers: Baby Bushka, Fleetwood Max, Electric Waste Band, Oceans, Geezer – plus upcoming tribute schedule
Next Article

Nation’s sexy soldiers stage protest at Pendleton in wake of change in Marine uniform policy

Semper WHY?
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.