Small World After All
The local legal fraternity is indeed a tight-knit family, as witness the connections between the people involved in the bankruptcy case of Carroll Davis’ San Diego Diversified Properties, developers of the Radisson Hotel in Mission Valley.
Colin Wied, one of Davis’ bankruptcy attorneys, was the attorney for Nite Lite Inns when it was in Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 1979 to 1983.
The Nite Lite Inns trustee was attorney C. Hugh Friedman, who is the trustee in the Radisson bankruptcy.
Friedman’s attorney in that case was Louise Malugen, who is now a bankruptcy judge.
Malugen, in turn, was the trustee in Davis’ previous bankruptcy case, Leisure Systems Inc., which operated the Playboy Club franchises here and in Dallas in 1982.
Malugen’s current secretary in bankruptcy court is Rosina Farawell, who was a paralegal for attorney Everett Barry, who represented Playboy International during the Leisure Systems bankruptcy.
(Because of Malugen’s ties to Davis’ previous bankruptcy, she could not serve as the bankruptcy judge in the current Radisson Hotel case.)
Two former bankruptcy judges from San Diego are either directly or indirectly involved in the Davis bankruptcy.
Former U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Ross Pyle is the attorney for trustee Friedman. And former bankruptcy Judge Herbert Katz is an attorney with the Los Angeles law firm of Gendel, Rasko, Shapiro & Quittner, which is representing the Palmieri Co., the receiver for the Federal Savings & Loan Insurance Corp. in its liquidation of San Marino Savings & Loan.
The FSLIC last year took over that institution, which had originated the $27.5 million in construction loans for the Radisson. Davis defaulted on the loans last December and since then has been trying unsuccessfully to work out a refinancing agreement with federal regulators.
Here’s the Pitch . . .
Not all Padres fans run to the fridge for a cold-one during commercials. Last week, one attentive listener heard the advertisement for Farmers Insurance, with the tag at the end urging would-be customers to call agent Frank Agustin in National City.
That would be a tough feat indeed. Agustin has been in the federal Metropolitan Correctional Center for the past month, charged with leading a San Diego-based smuggling ring that sold stolen aircraft parts to the Iranian government.
Pete Hallisay, general sales manager at KFMB radio, which broadcasts and sells ads for Padres games, said that Farmers Insurance solicits more than 100 of its agents to purchase short spots at the end of Farmers ads that identify the individual sales representatives.
“Nobody made us aware of it,” he said, when told of the Agustin ad. “There’s no way we would have caught it, but maybe I’ll get in touch with Farmers.”
Buried News
Yuba Natural Resources director Lynn Schenk isn’t seeking reelection at today’s annual shareholders meeting, which will be held at Yuba’s Marysville, Calif., silica-mining field offices.
That’s no surprise, of course. Sources close to the company predicted all along that Schenk likely would step down as a director following last year’s bitter 3rd District County Supervisor race between Schenk and Susan Golding, wife of Yuba Chairman and Chief Executive Richard T. Silberman. The race was so hostile that, after the election, Schenk slapped the victorious Golding with a $5 million libel and slander suit.
What is somewhat surprising is that attorney Schenk continues as a legal consultant to Yuba. She no longer has free office space at Yuba, but she receives $3,000 per month, payable quarterly, in return for “rendering not more than 20 hours per month of consulting services” to Yuba, according to the company’s proxy statement.
Giving Schenk a $150-per-hour, part-time contract, which runs through next July, was a purely business decision, according to Silberman.
“The company has a lot of money invested in several projects she is involved in,” he matter-of-factly explained.
Checks and Balances
Last week’s disclosure that the FBI and the U.S. attorney’s office may be taking a look into San Dieguito National Bank’s former chairman and its former president for possibly making improper loans merely adds to the list of banks already under scrutiny by authorities.
According to industry sources, federal prosecutors now have at least half a dozen locally-based independent banks under investigation--most of them for improper activity by insiders.
