Outcome of Battle for Control Still Unknown : Stater Bros. Has Showdown Vote

Some sported hats and stickers demanding “Bring Jack Back.” Also in the mostly suit-and-tie crowd Monday were a few T-shirts proclaiming “Brownbo First Blood Part 3.”

But whether Jack Brown, ousted president of the Stater Bros. grocery chain, will be brought back won’t be known until late today at the earliest. That’s when the Colton-based chain will make public the results of shareholder voting at Monday’s annual meeting, where two large shareholder groups faced off for control of the company.

The two groups--one led by Brown and the other by Stater Chairman Bernard Garrett--for the most part reined in the rancor that had marked the battle to elect three directors to the Stater Bros. board. The winner of the contest will control the Colton-based company’s nine-member board.

But extensive grumbling broke out early in Monday’s meeting when shareholders discovered that Stater management had reserved a room at the Hyatt Regency in downtown Los Angeles that held no more than 120 people.

Left in the hallway were dozens of people, many of whom appeared to be the unionized employees who largely backed Brown.

Brown charged in an interview that Stater management was attempting to keep his supporters from attending the meeting.

“I’ve never heard of a shareholders meeting where the shareholders can’t come in,” Brown said. “Those people in the hallway--it’s hot, they’ve come a long way and I think it’s a disservice.”

A Stater spokesman said the room was the largest available besides the hotel’s ballroom, which would have been too large. “There was no intention to keep people out, not at all,” the company spokesman said.

Results Expected Today

Ballots were given to shareholders in the hallway who wished to vote during the meeting.

Garrett said the meeting would be reconvened late today to announce results. However, the announcement could be delayed if the election inspector,Corporation Trust Co., hasn’t finished counting the votes.

The two shareholder groups were once allies, working together to buy Stater Bros. from Petrolane in 1983 and to take the company public last November.

But a split between the groups surfaced in February when Stater suspended Brown as president and chief executive and filed suit saying that he manipulated profits to buy Stater’s stock at low prices. Brown has vehemently denied the charges.

The ultimate outcome of Monday’s vote could hinge on who has the right to vote what shares. The Garrett and Brown groups once held roughly equal stakes of nearly 40% of the company’s outstanding shares.

The Brown group began buying more shares and then surged ahead through an agreement with Craig Corp. of Compton, which agreed to vote its shares with the Brown group. Together, the two hold about 50.6% of Stater’s shares, compared to 38.7% owned by a trust for Garrett’s children, Mitchel and Lisa.

During the meeting, Mitchel Garrett said the trust is voting 400,000 shares held by Brown’s group in addition to its own shares for management’s nominees--representing a total of 51.4% of Stater’s stock.

The Garretts contend that the pact between the Brown group and Craig Corp. triggered their option to buy those shares. The Garretts’ contention is the subject of lawsuits in Los Angeles and Delaware.