A summary of Southern California-related business litigation developments during the past week.

Orange County Man Pleads Guilty: An Orange County man pleaded guilty to charges stemming from a scheme to defraud financial institutions across the country of millions of dollars by persuading them to finance real estate developments in Arizona and California. John M. Couglan Sr., 75, the last of three defendants to plead guilty, conducted the scheme in 1986 through two companies, Eagle Bonds and Insurance Brokers Inc. and California Pacific Construction Co. E. F. Hutton Life Insurance Co. was defrauded of $5.5 million, and East Baton Rouge Retirement System lost $1.02 million. (Case No. 90-548. Plea Entered Nov. 26, 1990.)