Last Issue Resolved in 8-Year Joan Smith-Irvine Co. Battle

After nearly eight years, tens of millions of dollars in legal fees and thousands of pages of court documents--enough to fill a small room--the last big issues in Joan Irvine Smith’s long legal tussle with Irvine Co. have finally been decided.

Smith was awarded $102 million in interest on the $150 million a Michigan court referee awarded her last year for her stock in the giant land-owning company.

The ruling Wednesday in Michigan was a victory for the company, which had argued that Smith should get exactly that amount in interest accrued since she agreed to sell her stock in 1983. Smith had asked for what amounted to $201 million in interest.

“This was a clean sweep,” said William B. Campbell, one of the company’s lawyers. The court also denied Smith’s request that the company pay her $17 million in lawyers’ fees.

The court also imposed $299,000 in sanctions against Smith and her law firm, Los Angeles’ Loeb & Loeb, for delaying the trial several months in 1988. The company had asked for $750,000 but said the smaller amount was still “an unusually large” penalty.

Smith could not be reached, and her lawyers would not comment. The publicity-shy Donald L. Bren, chairman of Newport Beach-based Irvine Co., said in a written statement that he was “pleased” by the ruling.

It was the last big issue remaining in the long case, which pitted two of Orange County’s wealthiest and most famous residents in a bitter battle.