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REGIONAL: Couple gets six-figure civil judgment against trespassing marijuana grower
NORTH COAST, Calif. – A Mendocino County Superior Court judge has imposed a six-figure damages award against a Santa Cruz man who trespassed on his neighbors' Covelo property to grow marijuana.
Judge Jeanine Nadel issued a decision on Oct. 6 awarding plaintiffs Maria and Ernesto Salazar a total of $242,000 in damages against defendant Ross Matejcek.
Matejcek also has been ordered to remove encroachments and restore an excavated hillside.
“California law provides a property owner that has suffered a trespass such as this one with a wide range of damages claims and other remedies for the same conduct of the trespasser which do not necessarily overlap,” said Brian Momsen of Carter, Momsen & Knight PC, attorneys for the Salazars. “Trespass marijuana grows are a major issue in this community, not only on public lands, but also on private property, and we are happy that the court views these violations as a serious matter.”
The Salazars sued Matejcek for trespassing on their property, taking land, water and 225 trees to facilitate his marijuana grow.
The Salazars have owned their 10-acre parcel improved with a cabin in the Chicken Ridge area of Covelo since 1982, which they used as a vacation spot for their family.
In 2007, Matejcek purchased a 20-acre parcel immediately downhill from the Salazars after unsuccessfully trying to buy the Salazar property.
Matejcek constructed a road which required the excavation of a hillside and the removal of approximately 225 trees on the Salazars' property.
The court found that Matejcek took water from an uphill source on the Salazar property to fill large tanks and a pool he placed on the Salazar property, and ran lines from these holding areas further downhill to his marijuana garden and a large retention pond on his own property.
The court's ruling awarded the Salazars $202,500 for the removal of the trees, $39,600 for the reasonable rental value for the use of their property and water, and ordered Matejcek to restore the roadway to its original grade, remove gates, fencing and irrigation lines.
Momsen said the court awarded the Salazars treble damages in regard to their claim for timber trespass, finding that Matejcek's conduct was willful and malicious.
In the decision, Nadel found that Matejcek “ … never obtained a formal survey of his parcel when he purchased it, and instead, made what this Court considers a halfhearted attempt to locate the boundary lines with some local friends. He commenced construction of the road, fencing, and culverts which required the removal of trees without clear certainty of the boundary lines and without ever contacting the Plaintiffs despite knowing who they were and where they could be reached ... Defendant's total disregard for his neighbors gives rise to something more than a casual or an involuntary trespass.”
Maria Salazar said she had called Mendocino County Sheriff Tom Allman repeatedly from 2010 until this year to report this damage and the stealing of the water, but a deputy was not sent to the scene.
“Even after we received and informed the sheriff of the results of a survey a few months after we discovered the trespass, clearly showing that the road and water tanks were on our side of the property line, no one came,” she said.
Later, the Salazars reported Matejcek's conduct to the Mendocino County Building and Planning Department, the Regional Water Quality Control Board and the Department of Fish and Game, which cited Matejcek for his conduct performed without permits on his own property.
However, those agencies did not do anything about the damage to the Salazars' property. “Paying $15,000 for survey work and being in litigation for the last several years was our only remedy,” Maria Salazar said.
Salazar added, “While we are happy with the court's ruling, we still have to collect and enforce this judgment and wish that there was a simpler process for landowners that have suffered this type of violation and humiliation other than going to trial in civil court.”