Judge says Rite Aid must pay developer’s legal fees

An Orange County Superior Court judge this week ordered the drugstore chain Rite Aid Corp. to pay legal fees to an Irvine-based law firm in a contract dispute between the company and a land developer over a planned shopping center in Newport Beach.

Judge David McEachen ordered Rite Aid to pay $944,162 in legal fees to the developer’s law firm, Burkhalter Kessler Goodman & George, this week.

The suit involved a contract dispute over the planned Bel Maré shopping center in Newport Beach.

Mariners Mile Gateway LLC acquired a chunk of property at West Coast Highway and Dover Drive in 2004 with the intention of developing an upscale shopping center.

Rite Aid was to be the anchor tenant, but Mariners was unable to secure the necessary California Department of Transportation approvals to develop the center as originally planned.

Rite Aid sued Mariners, alleging the developer did not do enough to obtain the proper approvals from the state for the project.

The case was dismissed in September after the judge ruled Rite Aid did not provide enough evidence to support its claim.

— Brianna Bailey