Harry Shuster

Owners of the Wild Rivers water park on Tuesday appealed a judge's decision giving its landlord the green light to make good on his threats to demolish the Irvine attraction. Attorneys for the water park are asking the 4th District Court of Appeal to prevent Los Angeles businessman Harry Shuster from obtaining demolition permits and moving to take down the $8-million facility when his master lease on the underlying property expires Feb. 28.

The Irvine Co.'s settlement of lawsuits over the Lion County Safari site includes a $4-million payment to United Leisure Corp., which ran the now-defunct animal park on land leased from the big developer. During 12 years of litigation, United Leisure accused the Irvine Co. of thwarting the development of other businesses at the Irvine site near the El Toro "Y" freeway junction. An Orange County jury awarded United Leisure $42.

Harry Shuster, the flamboyant Beverly Hills entrepreneur who cast his fortunes with passing fads from animal parks to cigar clubs, has been indicted over an alleged multimillion-dollar scheme to profit from fraudulent offshore stock transactions, federal prosecutors said Friday. An indictment handed down by a federal grand jury in New York charges Shuster, 64, with four counts of securities fraud and conspiracy to launder money.

Businessman Harry Shuster's ground lease with the Irvine Co. expired at midnight Friday, but no bulldozers or demolition crews were expected to be around to commemorate the moment. In fact, all sides in the high-profile dispute that had threatened to bring down the Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre and neighboring Wild Rivers water park are anticipating an uneventful--though tense--weekend after a month of legal fireworks. "I still have butterflies," said Dale Dawes, a part-owner of the water park.

An Orange County Superior Court judge Wednesday blocked the demolition of the Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre, temporarily defusing a high-stakes standoff that had threatened to level Orange County's premier outdoor concert venue. Judge C. Robert Jameson issued a preliminary injunction that prevents Irvine Meadows' landlord, Los Angeles businessman Harry Shuster, from proceeding with plans to dismantle the 15,000-seat venue as part of a long-running dispute with the Irvine Co.

Lawyers for a Los Angeles businessman who has threatened to tear down the Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre and a neighboring water park in a dispute with his landlord now say he'll put down the wrecking ball in preparation for duking it out in court. In an abrupt 11th-hour turnaround in legal strategy, attorneys for Harry Shuster, head of United Leisure Corp., on Thursday filed suit in Orange County Superior Court to extend the company's ground lease with the Irvine Co.

Unmoved by written pleas from parents to save the Camp Frasier day camp, an Orange County Superior Court judge Friday denied businessman Harry Shuster's bid to remain on 300 acres near the El Toro Y pending an appeal of his eviction from the site. The ruling by Orange County Superior Court judge Byron McMillan clears the way for the Irvine Co. to regain control of the property. Shuster refused to vacate the premises after his lease expired Feb. 28. Irvine Co.

An Orange County Superior Court judge Thursday refused to block the demolition of the Wild Rivers water park, fueling a high-stakes battle that could put the attraction and neighboring Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre in the path of the wrecking ball.

The pitched battle between businessman Harry Shuster and the Irvine Co. took several strange turns on Monday as Shuster's lawyers claimed to have discovered dramatic new evidence that would allow him to automatically extend his lease another year--then backed off that assertion in the face of conflicting evidence. Shuster's long-term master lease on 300 acres near the El Toro Y, owned by the Irvine Co. and home to the Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre and Wild Rivers water park, expired on Feb. 28.

The company that once operated Lion Country Safari said Thursday it has lost another round in an 11-year-old lawsuit against its former landlord, the Irvine Co. A state appeals court refused to reinstate a $42-million verdict that United Leisure Corp. won in Orange County Superior Court against the Irvine Co. in 1993, United said. The trial judge overturned the damage award in 1994, ruling it wasn't supported by the evidence, and ordered a new trial. The Irvine Co.