Judge Allows Current Stater Officers to Stay

The Stater Bros. grocery store chain will be run by existing management for at least two weeks until a trial determines who won an election for control of the company’s board, a judge in Delaware ordered Thursday.

Vice Chancellor Carolyn Berger of the Delaware Chancery Court ruled that all officers and directors in place before the Colton-based company’s April 27 annual meeting “shall remain in control of the day-to-day operating affairs of the company” until she determines who won the election.

The trial, to be held in Delaware because the company is chartered there, is set for May 22.

Two rival shareholder groups--one led by Stater Chairman Bernard Garrett and the other by ousted President Jack H. Brown--have been fighting for control of the nine-member board.

At the April 27 meeting, three directors backed by Brown beat three Garrett-backed directors, but the Garrett group challenged the election.

The bitter fight grew so confusing that Security Pacific, one of Stater’s banks, briefly froze the company’s account Tuesday, but it reactivated it later in the day.

Paychecks went out on time Thursday, a Stater spokesman said.