McNall Sued by Company That Repaired Kings’ Jet

Besieged King owner Bruce McNall is being taken to court in another business dispute, this time by a Burbank company alleging it is owed $122,604 for fixing an engine in the Kings’ team jet.

The lawsuit in Santa Monica Superior Court was filed by UNC Pacific Airmotive Corp. against McNall Aviation Corp. and McNall Sports and Entertainment. The lawsuit is one in a growing list of suits that have surfaced in the last few weeks filed against McNall and his firms by companies alleging they are owed money. In most cases, McNall has denied he owes funds.

McNall spokesman Ron Iori termed the UNC suit “a business dispute over the performance of a contract and not a dispute over payment. UNC agreed to perform work within a certain period of time but failed to do so. As a result, we had to charter planes to the first round of the hockey playoffs last year at extra expense to us.”

But lawyer Stanley Strassberg, who represents UNC Pacific, said McNall has not complained up until now about the work that was done.

According to the March lawsuit, McNall’s companies in March of 1993 hired UNC Pacific to fix the engine. The lawsuit alleges that the company performed $236,825 in work for McNall, with the unpaid balance left at $122,604. Strassberg said no payments have been received since October for the work on the Boeing 727.

As previously reported, Republic Bank in Torrance received a judgment against McNall for about $2.1 million for defaulting on a loan, which McNall has agreed to pay.

Dutch-owned European American Bank is suing McNall in New York, alleging he defaulted on a $28.3-million loan. McNall has disputed that the debt even exists.

Hollywood studio Twentieth Century Fox has obtained a lien on McNall assets after it alleged in a lawsuit that he failed to pay back $5 million in advances when a film flopped. McNall has sued Fox, claiming that the film’s release was mishandled.

Finally, JMB Properties, owner of the Century City building where McNall has his offices, is alleging McNall is responsible for $290,000 in back rent that was to have been paid through a movie company he partly owns. A McNall spokesman has said that McNall thought the lawsuit had been dismissed.