Failed Fontana Firm Adding to Karcher’s Woes : Litigation: Founder of Carl’s Jr. invested $4.5 million in Trusscrete and is being sued by one of its customers, records show.

An investment in a now-defunct Fontana building-products company is adding to Carl N. Karcher’s financial woes, court documents show.

Karcher, founder of the Carl’s Jr. restaurant chain, invested more than $4.5 million in Trusscrete Corp., which folded in 1990 without ever having turned a profit. Now, in a case set for trial early next year, a former Trusscrete customer is suing Karcher for more than $4 million in connection with a disputed 1987 business deal. The lawsuit alleges fraud by Trusscrete and Karcher.

That legal tussle adds to the woes of the 76-year-old businessman as he fights to regain control of Carl Karcher Enterprises. Karcher, who was removed two weeks ago as the company’s chairman, on Thursday won a temporary reprieve from personal financial problems when four Orange County businessmen paid off $4.8 million of his bank debt in exchange for 641,000 shares of company stock that Karcher had pledged as collateral for a loan from Commercial Center Bank in Santa Ana.

News of that agreement gave a boost to Karcher Enterprises’ stock, which jumped 50 cents a share to close at $8.125 in Thursday’s Nasdaq trading.

The transaction freed Karcher to deal with a $25.1-million loan from Union Bank that also is in default. Karcher spokesman Steven Fink said Thursday that negotiations are continuing between Karcher and Union Bank.

According to court records, Karcher invested in Trusscrete in 1984, when the Karcher family trust made the first of nearly 40 loans to the building-products company. Karcher had been repaid only about $500,000 of that money when the company failed in late 1990.

The suit, filed by Dondeb Construction Co., a Canadian corporation, says Trusscrete failed to deliver $360,000 worth of building panels, thus setting back a major apartment construction project in Ontario, Canada.

Karcher’s attorneys say that Trusscrete never received an order for the disputed panels and that Trusscrete told Dondeb it would not ship any panels because Dondeb’s building design was faulty.

Dondeb’s suit targets Trusscrete but also alleges that the Fontana company was “the alter ego” of Karcher because of his heavy investment in it through his family trust.

Karcher’s attorneys tried unsuccessfully to sever Karcher and the trust from the suit, arguing that Karcher was no more than a passive investor.