WEST COVINA - A hearing was held Thursday in the long-running case for Moe the chimp, a former West Covina celebrity-turned-pariah, who is at the center of a legal battle between his owners and city officials.
St. James David and his wife LaDonna, arrive with their attorney Ernest Algorri, right, at the L.A. County Superior Court, Pomona Courthouse, on January 11, 2007, for their court case vs.the city of West Covina
An attorney for Moe's owners, St. James and LaDonna Davis, argued before Pomona Superior Court Judge Abraham Khan that the city owes the Davises money for breaking an agreement reached after the chimpanzee was forcibly removed from the couple's Vincent Avenue home in 1999.
Moe was removed for being in violation of the city's wild animal ordinance, after a series of incidents in which he bit a police officer and a female visitor.
The city initially prosecuted St. James Davis on felony charges for keeping the animal in his home.
Those charges were later dropped, and in 2002 the city agreed to buy a house in Baldwin Park and lease it to the Davises to house Moe.
But Baldwin Park blocked the purchase, and Moe was sent to live at an animal facility in Kern County.
Attorney Ernest Algorri is asking that the city be forced to pay the equivalent of monthly rent for the Baldwin Park home to the Davises for the remainder of the chimpanzee's lifetime.
Veterinarian Charles Sedgwick testified Thursday that the 38-year-old ape could live another 25 to 35 years.
Algorri presented a real estate appraisal that estimated that the cost of renting the home, which would have cost the city $226,000 to buy in 2002, would be $2,200 a month today.
"We had settled the case for $226,000 last year, and the City Council refused to even agree to that," Algorri said. "The city has continually turned its back on the Davises. All we are asking is for them to stand by their word."
But City Attorney Arnold Alvarez-Glasman said the city never agreed to pay the Davises money.
"In fact the Davises were going to pay $1 a month in rent \, and pay for the upkeep for the house the city would buy them," Alvarez-Glasman said. He added that the Davises have only been paying about $200 a month since the animal was moved to a wildlife way station in Los Angeles County within the past year.
The ape was transferred to the way station from the Kern County facility after a March 2005 incident in which St. James Davis was attacked by two rogue chimps while visiting Moe.
The attack left Davis badly mutilated and cost him an eye and his nose.
Moe was not involved in the attack.
A decision by Khan is expected within a week.
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