Gross Proposal to Settle Feud With California Neighbor Rejected

(Bloomberg) -- Billionaire Bill Gross proposed to settle his feud with his southern California neighbor and end dueling harassment complaints, saying there are more important things to focus on -- like the pandemic.

Gross issued a public statement Monday offering to “end all hostilities” with his Laguna Beach neighbor Mark Towfiq and said the two men should calculate how much money they’ve spent in lawyers’ fees and donate the proceeds to local food banks and other charities.

Towfiq rejected the settlement almost immediately, calling his neighbor’s proposal a “stunt to stem the tide of negative press the public exposure of his actions has produced.”

For months the two men have been locked in a public feud that Towfiq claims began when he filed a complaint with city officials over Gross’s installation of protective netting over a million-dollar sculpture in his yard. Towfiq claims Gross retaliated by blasting theme songs to TV sitcoms like “Gilligan’s Island,” rap and Mariachi music. Gross accused Towfiq of being a “peeping Tom” by photographing and recording him and his girlfriend Amy Schwartz.

Judge Kimberly Knill in Orange County Superior Court has been holding hearings in the competing disputes since last month and has said she will decide the issue.

“I don’t think many people would contend this litigation deserves the attention it has received during the deadliest pandemic in a century,” Gross said in the statement. “Never mind the public resources the case has commanded from the courts, law enforcement, and the city of Laguna Beach as it escalated far beyond an ordinary dispute among neighbors.”

Towfiq responded swiftly.

“This is just billionaire Bill Gross trying to buy his way out of accountability for his horrible behavior,” Towfiq’s lawyer Jennifer Keller said in a statement. “He is losing the trial badly and is literally on the eve of being cross-examined about his harassment and lies, which he is desperate to avoid.”

Towfiq, a tech entrepreneur, completed his testimony last week while Schwartz and Gross were still scheduled to testify in coming days. Schwartz was expected to be called as early as Monday when the harassment hearing is to resume.

During his days on the stand, Towfiq testified that Gross gave him a choice: drop his zoning complaints about a 22-foot-long soccer netting that encased the glass sculpture by artist Dale Chihuly or be subjected to blaring music.

Towfiq told Knill that after he refused to cave in to what he viewed as Gross’s extortion attempt, the incessant music forced him and his wife to flee their master bedroom and call police. He even recorded the duo dancing on their balcony, “taunting” him by giving him the finger. The music was so loud it penetrated his home’s cement walls and the extra-thick double pane windows Towfiq installed in his home, the entrepreneur said.

Gross claims the acrimony began earlier, when Towfiq rented out his property to a weeklong film shoot of HBO’s “Ballers.” The crew’s trucks lined the coastal highway and blocked access to Gross’s driveway, Schwartz said in a declaration to the court. A lawyer for Gross had alleged Towfiq has engaged in “stalker-like” behavior by spying on the couple with surveillance cameras and surreptitiously filming them with his phone.

Towfiq’s lawyers were the first to call witnesses in what have been intermittent hearings under Covid-19 pandemic restrictions. A Laguna Beach official testified that he spoke to Gross and Schwartz, who told him they’d lower the music if Towfiq dropped his complaint.

Police officers testified about hearing loud music coming from Gross’s beach-front home after Towfiq repeatedly complained to them, including one officer who said when she arrived she could hear Mariachi music blaring from the billionaire’s home that was louder than coastal highway traffic and the roar of the ocean.

Gross said Monday that while he and Schwartz haven’t yet been able to present their side of the dispute, the case was garnering undue media attention, using valuable court resources and exposing the participants to “unnecessary risk” by having all appear in court for multiday hearings during a pandemic.

“I strongly believe in my case and my concerns about invasion of privacy, but at the end of the day the lawsuits are about videotaping and music,” he said. “The absurdity would be laughable even to me if I wasn’t a direct participant.”

“I want nothing more than to be a good neighbor, even if it means revising my choice in music,” Gross added.

Towfiq’s lawyers questioned the sincerity of Gross’s offer.

“If he really wanted to settle the case he’d agree in writing to stop the illegal harassment, remove the illegal ‘art installation’ and soccer-goal like netting, apologize to Mr. Towfiq for his awful lies about him, and compensate Mr. Towfiq for the attorneys’ fees Gross has forced him to expend,” Keller said. “But you don’t settle cases with self-serving press releases.”

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