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Church Scurries to Post Bond Against Foreclosure

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Times Staff Writer

As a county marshal prepared to deliver a foreclosure notice at the Mormon church in Irvine on Wednesday, attorneys scurried to post a bond to prevent the sale of the church.

The move to foreclose on the 45,000-square-foot brick church at 23 Lake Road was brought by John Durante of Orange, a mason who successfully sued the church and several other defendants in Orange County Superior Court in April for breach of contract and failure to fully pay him for his construction work five years ago.

The church and its general contractor, Bodell Construction Co. of Salt Lake City, are appealing the $600,000 award. But because of a “clerical oversight,” an attorney for the Irvine church said, his firm forgot to file a bond to legally prevent Durante from collecting the award while the judgment is being appealed.

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The church and Bodell must pay Durante unless they post a bond equaling at least 150% of the value of the award, or approximately $900,000, with the clerk of the court, according to Durante’s attorney, Richard Fahrney.

“The church got its church, the general contractor (Bodell) got paid by the church for all the money it was supposed to, and the only person that hasn’t been paid is the company that really laid the bricks for the church,” Fahrney said Wednesday.

“I’ve never had to go to this extent to get a judgment paid,” he said. “They (defendants) will usually pay or post the bond.”

But Cree Kofferd, the attorney representing both the church and Bodell, said Wednesday that the attorney handling the details of the case for his law firm had “a medical emergency and was sick in bed.” He said the bond was “unfortunately overlooked.”

“I just learned this morning that they were posting the property,” Kofferd said. “At any rate, it was simply overlooked in the process, and we are looking to file the necessary bond now.”

Three-Week Deadline

The church has three weeks to post a bond to prevent the sale. The marshal, after posting the notice, must publish a foreclosure notice in a newspaper for three consecutive weeks before selling the building at auction, Fahrney said. The church will remain open during that time.

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“The last alternative I would want is to foreclose on the church,” Fahrney said.

The $4.3-million building, completed in 1981 on a 5.5-acre site, is known as the Santa Ana Stake Center. It serves more than 4,000 members--among them singer Donny Osmond--of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The facility consists of two chapels, two basketball courts, a stage for theatrical events and dozens of classrooms.

250,000 Bricks

“I don’t think the church or Bodell thought a small contractor such as myself would have been able to fight a construction conglomerate and the Mormon Church,” said Durante, whose company, Durante Construction Inc., laid about 250,000 bricks for the structure. “I think that’s one of the reasons they got caught with their pants down.”

Durante said his five-year dispute has put him on the brink of financial ruin, but he is determined to see it to the end.

“It’s taken me 10 years to build a career, and it takes one contract and one Mormon church to bury you,” Durante said. “It makes you wonder whether you should go further in this business.”

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