SCIENCE/TECHNOLOGY : Southland Files Countersuit Over Deal With Motorola

Southland Communications Inc. has filed a $10-million countersuit against its largest creditor, Motorola Communications Inc.

Motorola sued Southland in May, charging that Southland was delinquent in payments for paging equipment it purchased from Motorola. That lawsuit asked for $5.6 million

Southland’s suit, filed Friday in Orange County Superior Court in Santa Ana, denies most of the charges in the Motorola suit.

In its countersuit, Southland accuses Motorola of agreeing to sell pagers to Southland even though Motorola knew that the small paging company, with 50,000 subscribers, would not be profitable and able to repay Motorola until it had 100,000 subscribers.

Motorola said in its suit that Ahmad Bayaa and Ziad N. Bayaa, chief financial officer of Southland, both personally guaranteed Southland’s debt. But Bayaa said in the countersuit that he revoked the personal guaranty in August, 1987.

Jeffrey Griffith, an attorney for Motorola, declined to comment. In April, the Securities and Exchange Commission sued Southland’s president, Ahmad N. Bayaa, and five other defendants for allegedly conspiring to manipulate Southland’s stock price, which soared 83% in value in late March and early April. The company’s offices have also been searched in connection with a criminal investigation by the U.S. attorney’s office.