$1.76-Million Award Won by Newport Jojoba Firm

Republic Resources Inc., a Newport Beach firm that researches and cultivates jojoba beans, has won a $1.76-million judgment against four investment partnerships, the company said Wednesday. But the company also settled a second lawsuit, which will cost it $150,000.

Richard Murphy, Republic’s vice president of finance, said the $1.76-million award from the Orange County Superior Court will enable the firm to improve its cash flow, repay a loan and develop 160 to 240 more acres of jojoba beans in California in 1985. Oil from the beans is used to lubricate machinery and in the making of cosmetics.

Republic two years ago filed a lawsuit to collect $1.76 million in delinquent payments from four investment partnerships that had entered contracts to pay about $50,000 a month to Republic for four years, Murphy said. But the partnerships stopped making payments after periods that ranged from five months to two years.

The delinquencies, Murphy said, caused Republic to lose about $30,000 a month in income and forced the firm to borrow $500,000 that it now will be able to repay.

Murphy said that although the court judgment was ordered six months ago, Republic decided to postpone its announcement until it appeared certain that the decision would not be appealed.

Murphy said the award, which he expects to receive by summer, “definitely will help” Republic, which lost $10,686 on revenues of $1.6 million in its last fiscal year.

Republic’s earnings were depressed last year, he explained, because the company bought back the royalty rights to profits from the jojoba beans of seven other investment groups.

However, the company also must make a payment of $150,000 to N.P.I., a Salt Lake City agricultural research firm. The settlement, which releases Republic from three contracts with N.P.I., also calls for the Utah company to give Republic 50,000 jojoba plants next fall.