Redondo Beach will defend Councilman Nils Nehrenheim in a civil lawsuit brought against him by restaurateur Paul Hennessey over an alleged trespassing incident in June.
The Redondo Beach City Council unanimously voted to defend their colleague in closed session, 4-0 with Nehrenheim’s recusal.
“I want to thank my colleagues on that, and I really appreciate it,” Nehrenheim said after the vote’s announcement. “I’m glad we’re a team.”
Nehrenheim requested the defense in a legal demand letter sent to the Council and senior city staff on Aug. 26. He claims that the allegations against him stem from the performance of his duties as a public employee.
In his lawsuit, Hennessey claimed that he banned Nehrenheim and Mayor Bill Brand from his restaurants last April. In June, Nehrenheim was then accused of disrupting business and destroying a sign at one of Hennessey’s Riviera Village-area restaurants after being asked to leave.
“There wasn’t enough evidence as to whether or not it had to do with his public vote,” Councilwoman Laura Emdee said in an interview. “But the fact that Hennessey used it as background is a problem, and would imply that it did.”
In a June interview, Hennessey said that he asked Nehrenheim to not visit his restaurants “seeing as he’s the spearhead that fought to close the dining deck.”
Last year, the Council unanimously decided to end a dining deck pilot program and ordered Hennessey to dismantle a deck built outside one of his restaurants.
“My opinion is that council members doing their civic duty should not be subject to lawsuits. I think it’s up to the Council to defend one another, and I feel the city should defend someone who was representing residents,” Councilman Todd Loewenstein said in an interview.
Officials said that the city reserves the right to end its defense of Nehrenheim if he was banned for actions outside his duty as a councilman. City Attorney Michael Webb also clarified that the defense doesn’t apply to any potential criminal filings brought against Nehrenheim. ER
