SAN DIEGO ANNUAL MEETINGS : 4 Members of Kay Family Elected to Kaypro Board

Kaypro’s annual meeting Thursday turned into a family affair when the company’s shareholders overwhelmingly elected four Kay family members to Kaypro’s board of directors.

Outsiders have been unwilling to serve on Kaypro’s board because the company has not been able to secure directors’ and officers’ insurance, according to Chairman Andrew Kay, who was reelected to Kaypro’s board Thursday. Also reelected were President David Kay, Secretary Mary Kay and Assistant to the Chairman Allan M. Kay. The Kay family owns nearly 75% of the Solana Beach computer manufacturing company.

During the past year, attorney Roger S. Woolley and U.S. Senate candidate Arthur B. Laffer resigned from Kaypro’s board.

Andrew Kay refused to predict how the company will perform during the remainder of the year. He said that company officials cannot make forecasts because of an ongoing securities violation class-action lawsuit filed by disgruntled shareholders. That lawsuit alleges that Kaypro officials artificially inflated the firm’s stock price before a 1983 public offering.

Kay refused also to detail shipments of the firm’s newest, IBM PC-compatible computer.

Kay did indicate that Kaypro’s attorneys have “discussed” the possibility of a settlement of that lawsuit. However, those “preliminary” discussions did not lead to substantive talks with attorneys for the disgruntled shareholders, according to Kaypro Executive Vice President John Hentrich.