In Brief : DeLorean Asset Freeze Extended

A federal judge has continued a freeze on assets owned by flamboyant auto maker John DeLorean and said he would rule next month on whether DeLorean must pay a $53-million default judgment against him in Britain.

U.S. District Judge Richard Suhrheinrich said he could not rule quickly on DeLorean’s bid to have the freeze on his assets lifted, a clerk in the judge’s office said today.

The clerk said the judge set a March 6 deadline for the filing of evidence and arguments about whether the British judgment conflicts with a 1987 settlement reached between DeLorean and creditors of his bankrupt DeLorean Motor Co.

DSQ Properties, a successor to DeLorean’s failed auto company, won the $53-million judgment against him in a British court last year.

DSQ obtained a restraining order barring DeLorean from disposing of his property, including a Fifth Avenue cooperative apartment in New York and a New Jersey estate, valued at $60 million.

DeLorean argued in the Detroit court that he was not properly served in the British lawsuit. He also said the freeze on his assets will prevent him from making the final payment in his bankruptcy settlement.

Suhrheinrich, however, said too much money was involved for him to make a quick judgment.