Bill Gross and his girlfriend Amy Schwartz arrive in state court in Santa Ana, California, on December 7.
Photographer: David Swanson / Bloomberg
Photographer: David Swanson / Bloomberg
Bill Gross’s enthusiasm for interpreting the theme of “Gilligan’s Island” loudly in front of his house on the oceanfront in Southern California was dashed by a judge who agreed with King Bond’s neighbor that it was harassment and imposed strict limits. billionaire.
Orange County Superior Court Judge Kimberly Knill on Wednesday ordered 76-year-old Gross and his partner, Amy Schwartz, to stop playing sitcom-themed songs and other loud music when they’re not outdoors. for three years and instructed them to stay at least five feet away from neighboring neighbors in Laguna Beach.
Technical contractor Mark Towfiq called for a restraining order to stop what he called a “targeted harassment campaign” and retaliation that began after he told city officials that the billionaire co-founder of Pacific Investment Management Co. he had installed an unsightly net over a $ 1 million sculpture in his yard without proper permits.
Bill Gross and his girlfriend, Amy Schwartz, arrive in state court in Santa Ana, California, on December 7.
“The court finds that the evidence shows that Gross and Schwartz willingly play music to annoy or harass their neighbors,” Knill said. “The evidence shows on August 23, 2020, Gross and Schwartz manually started the playlist again and again,” the judge said, noting that a 17-minute video from a room owned by Towfiq showed that “Gilligan’s Island” played eight times, just like “Green Acres.”
Knill issued a ruling on neighbors’ harassment complaints after supporting one of California’s few in-person trials during the coronavirus pandemic that testified over nine days, including from both men, their partners, a NASA scientist with sound expertise and Laguna Beach officials.
More processes
While the two men still have separate lawsuits against each other for monetary damages, the judge said she would consider Towfiq’s request that Gross pay her legal fees in this case.
The judge rejected Gross’s request that Towfiq be ordered to stop taking videos and photos of the billionaire and Schwartz, saying that Gross had not proved that he had been harassed.
Despite the rulings, the two sides remain in conflict.
Gross’s lawyer, Jill Basinger, said the judge’s decision was “disappointing” and called Towfiq’s case a “personal vendetta” over the billionaire’s “art and music choices.”
“This order is not a kind of censorship of Bill Gross or Amy Schwartz,” she said in a statement. “This order only urges them to continue to do what they are already doing: obey the law.” She also repeated Gross’s allegations that his neighbor “armed” police complaints to “intimidate” Schwartz and Gross.
Towfiq’s lawyer Chase Scolnick called the decision a “huge loss” for Gross and a “long-awaited victory” for his clients. He said they had a “nightmare” and Towfiq is looking forward to a jury hearing his civil lawsuits.
“We are pleased that Judge Knill has found that Mr Gross and Mrs Schwartz have consistently harassed our customers with music constantly thrown at home in retaliation for a complaint about Gross’s illegal art installation and that she did not he explicitly believed Gross and Schwartz’s false and defamatory statements. on the contrary, “Scolnick said. “No amount of money or a PR relationship can hide the truth here.”
Modernist houses
Both neighbors have multi-million dollar modernist trophy houses perched on a Laguna Beach hat overlooking the Pacific. Gross, known as Bond King for managing the $ 270 billion total return fund to Pimco, also has a home in nearby Newport Beach.
That was where he was captivated by the theme of “Gilligan’s Island,” he said. Gross told the judge he found an episode of the sitcom on YouTube and noticed that the opening sequence, which shows SS Minnow leaving a port, was filmed right outside his home. He said he called Schwartz and began their love for the song about seven stranded shipwrecks that appears in the 1960s sitcom.
“Over time, we have learned lyrics and we act with our hands and pointing. It’s like a small play, “he confessed. “We play it because it makes us really happy. Half the time we start dancing and when we’re done we look at each other as if it’s a good time. “
But Towfiq described music as a weapon of “revenge.” He said Gross and Schwartz began exploding the theme, as well as those of other Mariachi TV, rap and music shows in late July, shortly after he asked the city to order Gross to remove the suspended safety nets. over a 22-meter-long blown glass. sculpture by artist Dale Chihuly.
“There is no legitimate purpose for this behavior,” Knill said. “Despite Gross and Schwartz’s testimony that they like Gilligan’s Island and have a special meaning for them, a reasonable person would suffer substantial emotional distress by repeatedly being at the end of unwanted repetitive music.”
The tech entrepreneur said his relationship with his neighbors was amicable before he filed a complaint for art. He and his wife, Carol Nakahara, were told that at the age of 50, Schwartz would be joined by pop star Kenny Loggins playing at Gross’ house and said they enjoyed the show next door. Towfiq showed a text that she sent to Schwartz thanking him for the concert and to which she responded cordially, with a smiling face.
But it was another series of texts that helped influence the judge. Towfiq had asked Schwartz in a text to reduce the volume of music to 11:45 p.m. on July 31. Gross responded by writing, “Peace on all fronts or we’ll just have Big Boy night concerts.”
Exchange of texts presented by Mark Towfiq as an exhibition in his harassment lawsuit against Bill Gross, filed in the California Superior Court in Santa Ana.
After the trial began, Gross proposed resolving the dispute, offering both parties to donate the money they spent on litigation to charities. Towfiq rejected the offer, with his lawyer calling it an attempt by Gross to “buy his way out of responsibility for his horrible behavior.”
In their testimony, Gross and Schwartz denied singing loud music, insisting that they use a decibel counter to keep track of the volume. They claimed that they had been victims of “tracking” behavior by Towfiq, who constantly photographed and recorded them.
They also said the dispute began a few months earlier, when Towfiq allowed the crew of the HBO series “Ballers”, which is filming an episode on his property, to block access to Gross’s path.
Knill said the lyrics corroborated Towfiq’s claim that the music was played in retaliation for the art complaint, and said Gross’s explanation of the events was “unlikely.”
(Updates with lawyers’ comments for Gross and Neighbor)