G H Palmer And Associates

A trial over who owns the name Valencia began Wednesday in U.S. District Court, with the Santa Clarita Valley's largest developer charging a neighboring builder of copyright infringement. The Newhall Land & Farming Co. alleges that G.H. Palmer and Associates illegally used the name of the ancient Spanish town in 1984, when they opened their Valencia Village Apartments.

A trial over who owns the name Valencia began Wednesday in U.S. District Court, with the Santa Clarita Valley's largest developer charging a neighboring builder of copyright infringement. The Newhall Land & Farming Co. alleges that G.H. Palmer and Associates illegally used the name of the ancient Spanish town in 1984, when they opened their Valencia Village Apartments.

A fire in a Santa Clarita Valley apartment development Friday morning destroyed two buildings under construction and spread to the roofs of 19 houses in a nearby neighborhood, causing serious damage to one house. Despite hot, dry Santa Ana winds, Los Angeles County firefighters extinguished all the fires within an hour. Damage to the apartment development, the Sand Canyon Ranch, was estimated at $1 million.

Los Angeles City Councilwoman Joy Picus, co-author of a law that limited campaign contributions to council members to $500 per donor, said Thursday that she has returned $3,000 that she received from six employees of a development firm. She said, however, that she will keep two $500 checks that she received from the two partners in the company, which is building a multimillion-dollar housing project in her West San Fernando Valley district.

Five protesters were arrested on charges of trespassing Thursday afternoon as community activists stepped up their protests against the developers of a luxury apartment complex by disrupting work at the downtown construction site. More than 100 protesters and supporters of the Assn. of Community Organizations for Reform Now gathered in front of the Medici apartments at Bixel and 7th streets at noon. Association members insist that the developers, G.H.

Two new luxury apartment complexes intended to help rejuvenate downtown Los Angeles have prompted a protest from an advocacy group that condemns the developer for not providing any low-income units. For months, the Assn. of Community Organizations for Reform Now, known as ACORN, has organized protests against Brentwood-based developer G.H. Palmer and Associates, which the group says sidestepped a city development regulation requiring low-income units.