David Lynch’s heirs head to court

Good morning, it’s Tuesday, March 31 and you can expect a dappling of morning fog, a profusion of clouds and perhaps some scattered afternoon showers.

In today’s newsletter, we have a dispute over David Lynch’s estate, a Dodgers parking hack, perishing poppies and more.

More than a year after David Lynch’s death, the director’s four children are fighting over his sizable fortune. The fractious dispute is set to spill into a Los Angeles courtroom this week.

Lynch, among the most influential filmmakers of his time and the creator of Twin Peaks and director of Mullholland Drive, died in January 2025 at age 78, leaving behind three adult children from his first three marriages and a teenaged daughter from his fourth marriage. 

The auteur’s will directed that the bulk of his estate be placed in a trust to be split evenly among his children. None of his heirs dispute that; their fight concerns how the trust should pay for Lynch’s youngest daughter’s private school tuition and other support.

The estate’s trustee, Lynch’s longtime producing partner, Sabrina Sutherland, asked an L.A. Superior Court judge last year for permission to pay for his youngest daughter’s expenses out of her 25 percent stake in the trust.

But Lynch’s fourth wife, Emily Lynch, is fighting that approach, saying the trust should pay education fees and child support “off the top” of its total value — then divvy up the rest equally for her daughter and three older siblings. 

The three older siblings — Riley, Austin and Jennifer — oppose that strategy, saying that it “would be contrary to [their father’s] clear directions … to treat his beneficiaries equally.” 

The value of Lynch’s estate isn’t detailed in the court filings, but it is substantial. The filmmaker owned a production company, Asymmetrical Productions, along with a 2.3-acre compound on Senalda Road in the Hollywood Hills that sold earlier this month for $13 million to an undisclosed buyer.

Sutherland, the trustee, estimates that child support, tuition, medical insurance and other expenses for Lynch’s youngest daughter would cost a total of $3.5 to $5.5 million over the course of her education. Paying that off the top of the trust would subtract an estimated $875,000 to $1.4 million from each of Lynch’s other children’s shares in the trust.

The matter is scheduled to go before a judge on Wednesday in downtown L.A. Lawyers for Sutherland and Lynch’s youngest child did not respond to messages seeking comment. Vatche Zetjian, a lawyer for Lynch’s three adult children, declined comment.

The estate documents, which were first reported on by TMZ, also revealed other bequests: cash gifts to those closest to him, including $100,000 to a longtime collaborator, Alfredo Ponce, and $25,000 each to his sister and brother. 

The estate has also put scores of items up for sale via auction. A director’s chair — one of about 450 items open for bidders last year — fetched $91,000, according to Julien’s Auctions. 

The court case has not, however, revealed who bought Lynch’s mid-century modern compound, which features structures designed by Frank Lloyd Wright’s son and grandson. (The property was transferred to a limited liability company, and a representative for the LLC declined to identify the new owner, citing attorney-client privilege.)

The cost of parking at Dodger Stadium — at parking lots partially owned by Frank McCourt, the former owner who bankrupted the team — has risen to $45 for the 2026 season. But there’s another option for fans who can handle a 15-minute uphill walk and a few menacing signs.

Find your way to McDuff Street just north of Little Joy. And as long as it’s not Opening Day or the playoffs and you get there at least an hour before first pitch, you will likely find a spot.

You’ll see “LOCAL TRAFFIC ONLY” sandwich boards, set out in the region to deter would-be-shortcutters from exiting the long lines on Sunset Blvd and Scott Ave. But it’s not illegal to park there. Per a spokesperson for the Los Angeles Department of Transportation: “Dodgers’ traffic contractors, not LADOT, install the “Local Traffic Only” signs.”

LADOT also noted that some streets surrounding the stadium are permit parking districts, restricting on-street parking to residents and their guests, so watch for permit parking signs. 

Sad news for Southern California poppy lovers: The recent abnormally strong and early heat wave “devastated” poppies in the Antelope Valley just as the delicate orange flowers were blooming, according to the Antelope Valley California Poppy Reserve.

“Clusters of poppies are hanging onto life, but the yellow edges of the flowers signal that they are dying,” the park writes. But not everything is dead, per the park. The Silverpuffs — a mid-late spring flower often mistaken for a common dandelion because of, well, how much it looks like a dandelion — are out in full force.

THE CULT OF CESAR: Inside La Paz, Cesar Chavez’s remote mountain compound headquarters, the United Farm Workers leader began to see himself as a visionary healer and “turned controlling and cultish.” The New York Times report is written by Sarah Hurtes and Manny Fernandez, who broke the story of Chavez’s abuse two weeks ago, along with L.A. bureau chief Shawn Hubler.

YOU GOT A FAST CAR: The city of Los Angeles is installing 125 speed cameras by the end of summer, with fines ranging from $50 to $500 depending how far over the speed limit a driver is going. 

WHAT’S WITH THESE HOMIES… Weezer played an acoustic rooftop concert this weekend in Venice to promote their upcoming tour. (Other promotional events this week included a Weezer-themed trivia night at Barney’s Beanery and a pickleball tournament with the band.)

LET THE GAMES BEGIN: The window for purchasing tickets to the 2028 Summer Olympics opens later this week.

HOLLYWOOD’S COLLAPSE: The Wall Street Journal has some very depressing charts looking at the nightmare scenario playing out in Hollywood right now, by the numbers. (Also ICYMI, our L.A. Material exclusive yesterday was a fantastic piece by Alex Zaragoza on the “survival jobs” many Hollywood workers have picked up to make ends meet.) 

SHOCK POLL: A controversial new poll released Monday by the Loyola Marymount University Center for the Study of Los Angeles shows Councilmember Nithya Raman with the support of 33% of voters while Mayor Karen Bass came in with 17%. Other polls have shown Bass in the lead.

For today’s peek inside our subscriber-only Discord server, @Jon4 with a license plate that shockingly made it past the DMV screeners in #vanityplates.

AND FINALLY… A poem to pair with your morning coffee: “Downtown Boom” by Lorenzo Thomas.

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