LOS ANGELES : Cleared Inmate’s Damage Award in Legal Snare

Clarence Chance, who won a multimillion-dollar settlement this year after a 17 1/2-year wrongful imprisonment, may have to wait for part of his award because of a pending legal action against his lawyer, officials said Thursday.

Carl Rheuban, who represented Chance in his civil action against the city, had persuaded officials to award Chance a record $3.5 million in January after his celebrated release from prison last year with his friend, Benny Powell. But a lien dating from the 1980s, when Rheuban headed a now-defunct Century City thrift, has thrown a monkey wrench into Chance’s payout, court records show.

According to attorney Rick Shaffer, who represents Mercantile Bank in the loan case, Rheuban is the defendant in a lawsuit over a $2-million loan on which he allegedly defaulted when First Network Savings was seized by federal regulators in 1990.

Mercantile Bank attached Rheuban’s legal fees in the Chance settlement.